منهاج الدراسات الأولية

3rd Year Curriculum
(COMCom-32) 2nd Semester (3 credits)

30 hours theory (2 hours/week)
1. Introduction to Community Medicine (3 hours)
Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to list and describe the evolution of health and preventive medicine activities.

  1. Introduction to community Medicine
  2. Definitions and concept of community medicine
  3. Goals of community medicine
  4. Benefits of community medicine
  5. Population-based approaches
  6. Factors that affect the community health
  7. Levels of disease occurrence
  8. Levels of prevention
  9. Community health act

2. Biostatistics (11 hours)
Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to list and describe the theory and techniques of collecting, collating, analysing and interpreting data.

  1. Introduction to biostatistics
  2. Presentation of data, tables, graphs
  3. Measures of central tendency
  4. Measures of dispersion
  5. Probability
  6. Statistical Inference
  7. Hypothesis Testing Steps
  8. One Sample t-test
  9. Two Samples t-test
  10. Paired t-test
  11. Chi square

3. Nutrition (5 hours)
Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to use the science of nutrition to identify and intervene in health problems related to nutrition.

  1. Nutrition status assessment
  2. Nutrient requirements
  3. Protein energy malnutrition
  4. Micronutrient deficiencies
  1. Family Medicine (7 hours)

Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to describe the concepts and inter-relationship of family medicine, function, and roles together with promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health principles and practices.

  1. Introduction and definitions of the specialty of family medicine
  2. Principles of family medicine
  3. The characteristics of the discipline of family medicine
  4. Core components of family medicine
  5. Providing care across the human life cycle
  6. Well child and adolescent care
  7. Well adult care
  8. Approach to common problems in family medicine
  9. Geriatric medicine

5. Environmental Health (5 Hours)
Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to describe the relationship between environmental factors and health and acquire skills on the assessment and management of modern environmental health problems.

  1. Introduction and definitions
  2. Environmental Hazards
  3. Air pollution
  4. Green house phenomenon
  5. Ozone layer depletion
  6. Acid rain
  7. Water Pollution
  8. Hazardous wastes
  9. Impact of heavy metals on environmental health
  10. Sick building syndrome
  11. Environmental Carcinogenesis
  12. Assessment of outdoor and indoor air pollution

30 hours Practical (2 hours/week)

  1. Biostatistics Problem Solving
  2. Applied Nutrition

4th Year Curriculum

(COMCom-41) First Semester (4.5 credits)

45 hours theory (3 hours/week)

1. Demography (4 hours)

Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to list and describe the socially and biologically based population processes and their consequences on public health.

    1. Definition
    2. Ratios, proportions & rates
    3. Life tables
    4. Population pyramids

 

2. General Epidemiology (8 hours)

Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to provide knowledge and skills to:

  1. Predict trends in disease occurrences.
  2. Describe disease models, risk, and contributing.
  3. Assess an epidemic.
  4. Formulate disease preventive strategies.
  1. Introduction of epidemiology
  2. Dynamics of disease transmission
  3. Outbreak
  4. Investigation of an epidemic
  5. Measures of disease frequency (Incidence and prevalence)
  6. Screening test:
  7. Judgment of cause and effect relationship.
  8. Risk assessment and type of rates

 

  1. Methodology in Epidemiology (4 hours)

Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to know different epidemiological study designs and have the skills to carry out a scientific research.

  1. Types of epidemiological studies
  2. Descriptive epidemiological studies according
  3. Cross-sectional studies
  4. Case-control studies
  5. Prospective longitudinal study (cohort)
  6. Intervention studies (clinical trials)

 

4. Primary Health Care and Related Health Programs (14 hours)

Course objectives: To introduce the students to the concept of primary health care and to install in them the technical skills to operate at the Primary Health Care level. At the end of the course the student should be able to develop the skill, attitude and motivation to work in Primary Health Care centre, to assess the health of the people, to promote the health and to organize relevant programmes to alleviate the people’s health problems.

  1. Concept of health care
  2. Health system
  3. Levels of health care
  4. Alma Ata Declaration
  5. Definition of PHC
  6. Millennium development goals
  7. Maternal and Child Health Program
  8. Expanded Program of Immunization
  9. Child Growth Monitoring
  10. Breastfeeding
  11. Diarrhoeal Disease Control program
  12. Acute Respiratory infection control program
  13. Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses
  14. Family Planning Program
  15. Adolescent Health
  16. School Health Program

 

5. Social Sciences (4 hours)

Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to describe the roles of culture, social, psychological and geographical factors in the aetiology of disease, the relationship between social class and other family characteristics and accessibility to health care services and attitudes toward seeking medical care.

  1. Medical sociology introduction
  2. Medical sociology Epidemiology
  3. Socio-economic conditions and health
  4. Community
  5. Family
  6. Cultural factors in health and illness
  7. Social responsibilities for health
  8. Social model of disability
  9. Means of social control
  10. Doctor-patient relationship
  11. Five stars doctors
  12. Illness related behaviour

 

6. Occupational Medicine (6 hours)

Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to list acquire knowledge and skills on diseases associated with occupational exposures and how they can be prevented. And also to know how to organize and manage occupational health services.

  1. Introduction, definitions
  2. Occupational health services and programs
  3. Epidemiology of occupational injuries
  4. Occupational Hazards
  5. Heavy metals
  6. Occupational Lung diseases
  7. Liver toxic disorders
  8. Toxic peripheral neuropathy
  9. Environmental and occupational causes of toxic injury to the kidneys and urinary tract
  10. Radiation (ionized and non-ionized)

 

7. Health Education (3 hours)

Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to list and describe the health education processes including assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation of health education interventions.

  1. Definition
  2. Health education approaches
  3. Communication channels
  4. Major planning steps in communication and Health Education

 

  1. hours Practical (3 hours/week)
  1. Demography Problems Solving
  2. Epidemiology Problem Solving
  3. Health Programs

 


Fourth Year Curriculum

(COMCom-42) Second Semester (3.5 credits)

30 hours theory (2 hours/week)

1. Health care Administration (6 hours)

Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to understand the basic concepts, principles, tools and techniques of modern management and their practical application at various levels of health care delivery (primary, secondary and tertiary; public and private sectors).

  1. Health Planning
  2. National health Planning
  3. Steps of Health Planning
  4. Evaluation of Health Planning
  5. Management (skills, roles and functions)
  6. Management Methods and Techniques

 

2. Epidemiology of Non-communicable diseases (6 hours)

Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to describe the risk factors and skills required for the prevention of chronic diseases of Public Health importance.

  1. Introduction
  2. Epidemiology of hypertension
  3. Epidemiology of heart disease.
  4. Epidemiology of Cerebrovascular accident.
  5. Epidemiology of Diabetes Mellitus.
  6. Epidemiology of Cancer and intervention.

 

3. Epidemiology of Communicable diseases (16 hours)

Course objectives: At the end of the course the student should be able to list and describe the distribution, mode of transmission, risk factors, and the skills required for the prevention and control of infectious diseases of Public Health importance in Iraq.

  1. General consideration
  2. Malaria
  3. Leishmania
  4. Schistozomiasis
  5. Measles
  6. Diphtheria
  7. Tetanus
  8. Bordetella pertussis
  9. Mumps
  10. Rubella
  11. Viral Hepatitis
  12. Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI)
  13. Tuberculosis
  14. Acquired immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
  15. Sexually transmitted disease (STDs)
  16. Typhoid and Paratyphoid fever
  17. Cholera

 

45 hours Practical (3 hours/week)

  1. Research projects

In order to further equip students on the application of research methodology, skill and project development and write-up, each group of students will be expected to choose a topic for community based study. This is done under the supervision of a lecturer in the Department. Each group will be expected to defend their project work during the oral examination and will submit a hard cover bound completed project to the Department for assessment.