Canvas eLearning
Course Goals and Objectives
The Health Care and Public Health Clerkship is a required two-week course offered to medical students in their 4th year. The course focuses on public health and healthcare delivery with an emphasis on health promotion, preventive medicine, community aspects of practice and emerging trends in healthcare delivery.
The course builds upon public health and epidemiological concepts and issues discussed and raised in Phase I and II of the curriculum. Specifically, this clerkship presents a wider exposure to various aspects of healthcare delivery; health policy; disease prevention and health promotion; and various community aspects of practice such as environmental and occupational health, integrative medicine, lifestyle medicine and global health. The students will also be introduced to various topics currently being debated in the healthcare field.
At the end of the rotation, students should gain a greater knowledge and understanding of major public health issues including: a) public health challenges, b) social, cultural, political and clinical aspects of healthcare delivery, c) community and clinical aspects of practice such as occupational medicine, lifestyle medicine, law and health, and traditional healing approaches prevalent in various communities, and d) health promotion and disease prevention.
Course Structure
The course is presented by means of lectures and seminars led by experts and individuals working in the specific topic areas. Faculty and professionals from other organizations and academic institutions are invited to discuss and/or debate contemporary public health issues.
This clerkship also uses small group collaboration and discussion approaches. Working in teams promotes coordination of written and oral communication skills, and encourages participants in building partnerships. These skills are vital to public health professionals. Students form groups with 5-6 students in each group. A faculty preceptor, assigned to each group, provides guidance to the students as they research, collaborate and prepare their group presentations. Each team researches a relevant specific topic, prepares and presents it before the class at the end of the rotation. The group organizes its presentation and each student member contributes in the discussion and preparation of the final oral presentation. The objective of these oral presentations is to share information with other students on issues/topics that they did not research. The oral presentations represent an opportunity for shared learning experiences.
The clerkship also exposes students to relevant clinical aspects of preventive medicine. Standardized patients (SPs) are trained and utilized in simulated doctor-patient encounters in the subject areas of occupational/environmental and lifestyle medicine. Site visits, as might be appropriate, are also arranged.
Additionally, students are required to submit a reflection paper at the end of the clerkship, in which they are asked to describe, examine, and articulate their learning and experience during the clerkship.
Course Content and Grade
Course topics include public health and healthcare delivery and its challenges; global health; public health in Qatar and other nations; emerging infectious disease challenges; patient safety and quality assurance; alternative (integrative) medicine; occupational and environmental health; lifestyle medicine and obesity management; climate and its effect on health; addictive substances (opioid epidemic); responding to public health emergencies; legal aspects of medicine; adolescent health; aviation medicine; road traffic injury prevention; medical/health informatics; placebo (context and meaning) effects and their role in clinical encounters; health of displaced populations and migrant health.
The course is graded as pass/fail. A pass grade on the course is based on participation and attendance in the online class and other scheduled activities, oral presentation, and the written reflection paper. Attendance is mandatory in all the seminar/lecture discussions and other scheduled activities.
Clerkship Director: Ravinder Mamtani, MBBS, MD, MSc
Associate Clerkship Director: Sohaila Cheema, MBBS, MPH, CPH
Staff Support: ocs@qatar-med.cornell.edu