Postgraduate Course: Epidemiology for Health Professionals (GLHE11016)
Course Outline
| School | Deanery of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces the fundamentals of epidemiology, providing students with an understanding of different epidemiological concepts and approaches and investigative techniques, and essential statistical skills, relating to global and local health problems. It focuses on areas such as how to understand study design and how to choose the right study design, interpreting confidence intervals, p-values, relative risks and odds ratios, and understanding how to measure health and disease. It explores issues such as bias and confounding.
The course is flexible, designed to be engaging and informative to people at all levels, whether just beginning to work with epidemiology or for those who have a basic grasp but wish to extend their knowledge further. The course provides an excellent platform for all health professionals building skills in interpretation of data, research design and clinical practice. It is also valuable for policy makers, for those engaged in the health industry and those working in NGOs and international agencies and organisations. It is extremely useful for those working in the NHS or other health services throughout the world, or those who have a teaching responsibility to health students. |
| Course description |
The course will concentrate on the following areas:
- measures of disease frequency
- basic statistical concepts used in epidemiology
- practical application of statistical methods in epidemiology
- the uses, advantages and disadvantages of different epidemiological study designs
- sources of error in epidemiological studies
- critical appraisal skills for epidemiology
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | Students will be responsible for their computer equipment and internet access. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Flexible |
| Course Start Date |
07/08/2017 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
A formal summative written assessment will constitute 60% of the overall course mark. An online assessment using multiple-choice questions will constitute 40% of the overall course mark. There is also a formative assessment of learning half-way through the course. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
This course will equip participants with the skills needed to understand and critically appraise published epidemiological studies. By the end of the course, students should:
- be familiar with basic epidemiological concepts such as incidence, prevalence, rates, standardisation, association and causality, approaches to sampling;
- understand and be able to describe the following epidemiological study designs: ecological studies, cross-sectional studies, case-control studies, cohort studies, randomised controlled trials;
- understand what is meant by and what the implications are of bias and confounding and the strategies available for avoiding these problems;
- be able to critically appraise published studies;
- be confident with basic statistical concepts;
- demonstrate an ability to undertake simple calculations and analyses using a statistical software package
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
This course will be taught entirely by online distance learning, using the virtual learning environment Learn as the delivery platform. Course materials are protected by secure username and password access that will be made available to registered users. |
| Keywords | global health,epidemiology |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Ruth Mcquillan
Tel: (0131 6)50 9238
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Sarah Gordon
Tel: (0131 6)51 7112
Email: |
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