ALH5250 INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC HEALTH
3 Credit Hours
Student Level:
This course is open to students on the college level in either the freshman or sophomore year.
Catalog Description:
ALH5250 - Introduction to Public Health (3 hrs)
This course is designed to help the student increase his or her knowledge concerning public health, the public health system, and careers in public health. Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to define public health, understand and measure health, describe the public health system, describe the interaction of the government and laws with public health, describe public health preparedness and emergency response, and discuss the public health workforce.
Course Classification:
Lecture
Prerequisite:
None
Controlling Purpose:
This course is designed to help the student increase his or her knowledge concerning public health, the public health system, and careers in public health.
Learner Outcomes:
Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to define public health, understand and measure health, describe the public health system, describe the interaction of the government and laws with public health, describe public health preparedness and emergency response, and discuss the public health workforce.
Unit Outcomes for Criterion Based Evaluation:
The following defines the minimum core content not including the final examination period. Instructors may add other content as time allows.
UNIT 1: Public Health
Outcomes: The student will gain an understanding of public health.
- Discuss several different definitions of public health
- Describe the origins and content of public heath responses over history
- Trace the development of the public health system in the U.S.
- Broadly characterize the contributions and value of public health
- Identify three or more distinguishing features of public health
- Describe public health as a system with inputs, processes, outputs, and results, including the role of core functions and essential public health services in the public health system
- Identify five or more Internet web sites that provide useful information on the U.S. public health system
UNIT 2: Understanding and Measuring Health
Outcomes: The student will gain an understanding of health and how it is measured.
- Identify four or more categories of factors that influence health
- Identify several categories of commonly used measures of health status
- Describe major trends in health status for the U.S. over the past one hundred years
- Access and utilize comprehensive and current national data on health status and factors influencing health in the U.S.
- Utilize information on factors that influence health and measures of health can be used to develop community health priorities and effective interventions for improving community health status
- Describe the role of health educators and public health information specialists in understanding and measuring health
UNIT 3: Public Health and the Health System
Outcomes: The student will gain an understanding of public health and the health system.
- Describe three or more major issues that make the health system a public health concern
- Identify five intervention strategies directed toward health and illness
- Identify and describe three levels of preventive interventions
- Describe the approximate level of national expenditures for all health and medical services and for the population-based and clinical preventive service components of this total
- Describe important economic, demographic, and utilization dimensions of the health sector
- Characterize the roles and interests of key stakeholders in the health sector
- Describe the contributions of public health nursing to public health efforts today
- Access and utilize current data and information resources available through the Internet’s World Wide Web
UNIT 4: Law, Government and Public Health
Outcomes: The student will gain an understanding of the impact of government and laws on public health.
- Identify strategies used by governments to influence the health status of their citizens
- Describe how various forms of law contribute to government’s ability to influence health
- Describe the basic administrative law processes carried out by public health agencies
- Discuss the various federal health agencies and describing their general purpose and major activities
- Identify different approaches to organizing health responsibilities within state government
- Describe common features of local health departments in the United States
- Discuss implications of different approaches among states to carrying out public health’s roles
- Describe the role and duties of several different job titles related to public health administration
UNIT 5: Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
Outcomes: The student will gain an understanding of public health emergency preparedness and response to emergencies.
- Differentiate among different types of public health emergencies and disasters, their definitions and the terminology related to them
- Identify the main characteristics of the principal natural disasters and their effects
- Explain the concepts of vulnerability, risk, disaster prevention, and the links to longer term effects
- Describe why emergencies and disasters are a problem for which the public health system must be an integral participant across a range of disaster activities
- Describe the role and responsibilities of public health professionals in emergency preparedness and response
- Identify how and where to locate the agency emergency response plan (or the pertinent portions of the plan)
- Describe how the chain of command and communication strategies function in emergency response
- Describe how environmental health practitioners contribute to modern public health emergency preparedness and response efforts
UNIT 6: The Public Health Workforce and Future Challenges
Outcomes: The student will gain an understanding of the public health workforce and the probable future challenges facing public health.
- Identify the major components of public health’s workforce
- Describe the public health workforce in terms of numbers, distribution, and skills
- List five or more major categories of universal competencies for public health professionals
- Identify strategies for enhancing the public health workforce
- Describe past and current contributions of various professions to public health efforts
- Identify at least three issues that will impact the growth of the pubic health workforce
- Describe how these issues will affect the distribution and composition of the public health workforce of the future
- Identify and discuss at least three lessons from public health’s achievements in the twentieth century
- Discuss the role of competency frameworks in public health workforce development efforts
Projects Required:
Varies; refer to the course syllabus for required projects.
Textbook:
Contact Bookstore for current textbook.
Materials/Equipment Required:
Varies; refer to the course syllabus for required projects.
Attendance Policy:
Students should adhere to the attendance policy outlined by the instructor in the course syllabus.
Grading Policy:
The grading policy will be outlined by the instructor in the course syllabus.
Maximum class size:
Based on classroom occupancy
Course Time Frame:
The U.S. Department of Education, Higher Learning Commission and the Kansas Board of Regents define credit hour and have specific regulations that the college must follow when developing, teaching and assessing the educational aspects of the college. A credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement that is an institutionally-established equivalency that reasonably approximates not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work for approximately fifteen weeks for one semester hour of credit or an equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time. The number of semester hours of credit allowed for each distance education or blended hybrid courses shall be assigned by the college based on the amount of time needed to achieve the same course outcomes in a purely face-to-face format.
Refer to the following policies:
402.00 Academic Code of Conduct
263.00 Student Appeal of Course Grades
403.00 Student Code of Conduct
Disability Services Program:
Cowley College, in recognition of state and federal laws, will accommodate a student with a documented disability. If a student has a disability which may impact work in this class and which requires accommodations, contact the Disability Services Coordinator.
Disclaimer: This Information is Subject to Change. For the Official Course Procedure Contact Academic Affairs.
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