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Module Specification An online version of this specification is available to prospective students at http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/currentstudents/studentinformation/msc_module_handbook/section3_moduledescript/in dex.html GENERAL INFORMATION Module name Applied Communicable Disease Control Module code 1454 Module Organiser Will Nutland Contact email [email protected] Home Faculty Faculty of Public Health & Policy Level This module is at Level 7 (postgraduate Masters ‘M’ level) of the QAA Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales & Northern Ireland (FHEQ). Credit LSHTM award 15 credits on successful completion of this module. Accreditation Not currently accredited by any other body. Keywords Communicable diseases, viral, HIV/AIDS, bacterial, TB, zoonotic diseases, parasitic, vulnerable groups, sexual & reproductive health, health in emergencies, outbreaks, health systems, disease prevention & control, health policy, tropical medicine, behavioural aspects, sexuality, globalisation, values/ human rights/(bio)ethics, health legislation, disease vectors, pathogens, food, water, sanitation, climate, epidemiology, planning and programming, teaching, communication, team-work, management /leadership, local / regional, international / global, rural, urban. AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND AUDIENCE Overall aim To explore the core knowledge & skills necessary for the application of communicable disease control activities in a variety of settings & populations. Intended learning outcomes By the end of this module, students should be able to: Differentiate the key mechanisms of communicable disease transmission, and to propose realistic public health prevention & control strategies; Apply and evaluate the principles of surveillance and the characteristics of different surveillance systems, their strengths and weaknesses, their usefulness, and their application to disease control; Evaluate policies and programmes used in the prevention and control of important infectious diseases, and the issues involved in their implementation and evaluation; Apply epidemiological methods to the investigation and management of outbreaks; 1 Target audience Examine the issues involved in managing and evaluating vaccination programmes; Question the appropriateness of standard communicable disease control strategies for vulnerable, marginalised, and at-risk populations, and to propose alternative strategies; Evaluate communicable disease control strategies using ethical frameworks; Design communicable disease control strategies suited to the student’s own country or work situation. This module is designed for students who wish to practise, have some responsibility for, or would like to enrich their knowledge of communicable disease control practice. As this module is centered on the application of core principles and practices, it should be relevant and interesting to a wide audience of students from different academic and experiential backgrounds. CONTENT Session content This highly interactive module seeks to prepare students for the practice of communicable disease control through a variety of teaching and learning strategies. Students will first be presented to the core concepts of communicable disease control (CDC) through a series of lectures and interactive seminars. Topics include: Surveillance; Epidemiology; Vaccinology; Respiratory transmission; Faecal-oral transmission; Blood-borne transmission; Blood & body fluid transmission; Vector-borne transmission; Marginalised & at-risk populations; Public health communications; Ethics of disease control. (above list is subject to alteration) In addition to the lectures & seminars, students will work in small problembased learning groups with a staff facilitator throughout the module. Each group will work on an emerging & realistic CDC scenario. The groups will be tasked with applying material taught in the module, and identifying alternative sources of information to plan strategies for resolving the problem-scenario presented. 2 TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT Study resources provided or required Students will be provided with a hard-copy reader that will include many of the core readings for this module. Additional readings will be made available through the library. While there are no required books for this module, there is one ‘highly recommended’ text, and two ‘recommended’ texts for the students to consider: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Noah, N. Controlling Communicable Disease. Maidenhead: Open University Press; 2009. RECOMMENDED: Nelson, KE, Williams, CM. Infectious Disease Epidemiology: Theory & Practice. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett; 2007. Heymann, DL (Ed). Control of Communicable Diseases Manual 19th Ed. American Public Health Association: Washington, DC; 2008. Teaching and learning methods Teaching will be carried out by means of lectures, seminars, and problembased learning (PBL) sessions. Some of the lectures and seminars will be facilitated by external CDC experts to allow students the opportunity to be exposed to a diversity of perspectives. PBL sessions will take place in small groups, which will be led by a facilitator from LSHTM. The emphasis in PBL sessions will be on working through a realistic outbreak scenario as a small group, and applying core themes explored across the module, in order to realistically resolve the presented problem scenario. There is a significant focus on self-directed learning in this module. This said, the lectures and seminars are designed to complement the weekly topics explored in the PBL sessions. It is expected that students will draw on a number of resources to enrich their own learning, including subject experts / clinicians, academic literature, and module reading. Assessment details Individual assignment (70%) The PBL sessions will explore a realistic outbreak scenario, with structured evolutions over a four-week period. At the end of the PBL sessions, students will be asked to complete an individual outbreak report of 1,500 words, which summarises the actions taken by the group, with rationale, reflections and recommendations presented. Students will be evaluated on their critical evaluation of the outbreak, drawing on the core themes and topics presented throughout the module. CDC intervention project (30%) Each of the PBL groups will be responsible for identifying a communicable disease control issue / gap (e.g. hand-washing, food storage, sexual health, infection control in lectures) at the LSHTM. The groups will have to undertake some background research related to their selected issue, and proposed a control strategy with accompanying support materials (e.g. pamphlets, posters) for this intervention. Each group will present a display at a CDC fair, which the entire LSHTM community will be invited to attend. A panel of assessors will evaluate the group’s efforts on the day of the fair. 3 Non-Assessed criteria As this module builds on sequential core concepts presented in PBL sessions, seminars and lectures, students are required to commit to full participation in all sessions. For students who are required to re-sit, or granted a deferral or new attempt, the task will be a take-home exam in which the student will be given an original outbreak scenario, which is different from the scenario discussed in the problem-based learning session. The student will have to answer a series of questions related to the scenario, and develop appropriate strategies related to the control of this outbreak. The student will be allowed to use both module and external reference resources in order to complete this task. Assessment dates Assessment(s) will take place or be due on: 1. 23 March 2016 (CDC Fair); 2. 25 March 2015 (Individual assignment). For students who are required to re-sit, or granted a deferral or new attempt, the next assessment date(s)/deadline(s) will be during the School’s standard re-sit period in September 2015. The re-sit assignment will consist of a takehome examination worth 100% of the final grade for students who are resitting all of the evaluative components, or equalling the percentage of the specific assignment missed. Language of study and assessment English (please see ‘English language requirements’ below regarding the standard required for entry). TIMING AND MODE OF STUDY Duration The module runs for 5 weeks at 2.5 days per week; this module runs between Monday morning and Wednesday lunchtime. Dates For 2014-15, the module will start on Monday 23 February 2015 and finish on Wednesday 25 March 2015. Timetable slot The module runs in LSHTM timetable slot D1. Mode of Study The module is taught face-to-face in London. Both full-time and part-time students follow the same schedule. For full-time students, other LSHTM modules are available in the other half of the week for the C and D slots. Learning time The notional learning time for the module totals 150 hours, consisting of: Contact time ≈ 21 hours Directed self-study ≈ 12 hours Self-directed learning ≈ 87 hours Assessment, review and revision ≈ 30 hours APPLICATION, ADMISSION AND FEES Pre-requisites This module is suitable for all MSc students. 4 English language requirements A strong command of the English language is necessary to benefit from studying the module. Applicants whose first language is not English or whose prior university studies have not been conducted wholly in English must fulfil LSHTM’s English language requirements, with an acceptable score in an approved test taken in the two years prior to entry. Applicants may be asked to take a test even if the standard conditions have been met. Student numbers Student numbers are typically 40 per year; numbers may be capped due to limitations in facilities or staffing. Student selection Preference will be given to LSHTM MSc students and LSHTM research degree students. Other applicants meeting the entry criteria will usually be offered a place in the order applications are received, until any cap on numbers is reached. Applicants may be placed on a waiting list and given priority the next time the module is run. Full Registration (full participation) by LSHTM research degree students is required for this module. Fees For registered LSHTM MSc students, fees for the module are included within MSc fees (given on individual course prospectus pages). If registering specifically for this module, as a stand-alone short course, individual module fees will apply. Tuition fees must be paid in full before commencing the module, or by any fee deadline set by the Registry. Scholarships Scholarships are not available for individual modules. Some potential sources of funding are detailed on the LSHTM website. Admission deadlines For 2015-16: For registered LSHTM MSc students, the module choice deadline (for Term 2 and 3 modules) is Friday 20 November 2015. If registering specifically for this module, applications may be made at any time but, as places are limited, applications ahead of the MSc deadline are strongly advised. All applications should be submitted at the latest 8 weeks prior to the start of the module. Formal registration will take place on the morning of the first day of the module. ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT This module specification applies for the academic year 2015-16 Last revised 23 July 2012 by Greg Thomas-Reilly; 20 July 2015 minor updates by SDB London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel St., London WC1E 7HT. www.lshtm.ac.uk 5