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Medicine is a global profession framed by forces going beyond
national boundaries, such as food insecurity, human migration, climate change
and conflict. It follows that medical education needs to keep pace with these
changes and to ensure the next generation of doctors are aware of global
issues, regardless of whether they choose to work in the UK or overseas. This
awareness improves their critical thinking, enables them to empathise more with
patients from diverse backgrounds, and strengthens their ability to understand
the challenges faced by different types of health systems – and not just the
NHS. Global health covers issues of health and healthcare across the world, and
not just in developing countries.
This module on Global
Health and Humanities (GHH) represents the first of several
initiatives planned at University of Aberdeen to enable medical students to
graduate with this awareness. Global health involves diverse disciplines
including humanities, social sciences and the arts. Beginning the integration
of global health into the curriculum through the Medical Humanities block is
thus entirely appropriate. The module will use the humanities as a lens or
perspective to examine different aspects of global health and is intended for
those who have no prior exposure to these topics as well as those who have some
experiences.
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Demonstrate awareness of the non-clinical determinants of global health, including social, political, economic, environmental
Describe how health can be distributed unequally within and between populations in relation to socially-defined measures and human rights
Discuss the different methods for capturing, describing and interpreting global health patterns and burdens
Recognise the importance of multi-disciplinary perspectives to understanding and improving global health.
During the process of learning, the student will have an opportunity to strengthen the following generic skills:
Communications skills (with peers & Faculty)
Presentational skills (via PechaKucha)
Teamwork
Written skills
Time-management and workload planning
Additionally, research skills this course develops include:
Appraisal of published evidence
Appreciation of mixed method and models of enquiry, including photo-methodology
Interpretation of global health statistics
Literature & web-resource searching, including statistical databases
What will the timetable be like?
The teaching methods to be used in the module include lectures, tutorials, workshops, directed reading, film viewing and discussion, individual assignments, and invited guest insights on global health.
How will I be assessed?
Assessment will be based on three pieces of work.
Choose from one global health topic in order to:
Individual assignment
Part 1 (25%).Prepare a 750 word assignment of a newspaper article about the global health problem. Part 2 (15%) Prepare a 750 word critique of this in comparison to one generated by Generative Artificial
Intelligence. (40% of total marks)
Give a presentation using the PechaKucha technique of 20 images and key messages in 20 seconds per image (total of 6 mins 40 secs) on why the selected global health problem is “more than a medical issue” (40%)
Complete a 1500 word reflective practice essay on student’s experience during GHH module (20%)
What did previous students think about this course?
Student view 24-25 (audio only)
Student view 20-21 (audio only)
Student view 21-22
Student view 20-21 (audio only)
"The teaching staffs are very supportive, and the course content organised well. I learned so much from this course, and it was especially eye-opening to learn about the various ways one could present information. This course allowed me to see clearer
the kinds of things we need to consider when looking at the patient as a 'whole person', and believe that the things I learned here will affect my clinical practice in the future."
"I enjoyed the
live sessions and hearing the global health experiences from different healthcare professionals."
"It was multimodal, engaging and perceptive "
"They were all incredibly passionate about teaching the subject. They were also very encouraging for us to share our own experiences and enthusiastic to learn from us"
What topics have previous students chosen?
The global health topics selected by students include:
To get another view of the importance of studying global health, you should consult the publication: The Global Doctor. By Willott, C et al. (2012) University College London. (Available at: http://www.ioe.ac.uk/DERCGlobalDoctor.pdf Accessed May 13th 2015)