Course: Public Health

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Course title Public Health
Course code PVL/VA042
Organizational form of instruction Seminar
Level of course Master
Year of study 4
Semester Winter and summer
Number of ECTS credits 4
Language of instruction English
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Course availability The course is available to visiting students
Lecturer(s)
  • Trajerová Renata, Mgr.
  • Menšík Michal, Ing. Ph.D.
  • Horáková Dagmar, prof. MUDr. Ph.D.
  • Štěpánek Ladislav, doc. MUDr. Ph.D.
  • Janoutová Jana, doc. MUDr. Ph.D.
  • Koutná Veronika, Mgr.
  • Ivanová Kateřina, doc. PhDr. Mgr. Ph.D.
Course content
The subject consists of two parts that form an integral part of the state rigorous exam in Public Health. The student gets to know the essence of public healthcare. The main topics are epidemiology, organization and financing of healthcare and disease prevention (vaccination of the population and surveillance of infectious diseases). The student will deepen his knowledge of general and special epidemiology. The student will become familiar with the tasks and activities of public health authorities in solving current public health problems and the role of the general practitioner in disease prevention. The second part of the course will focus on the organization of the healthcare systems and its financing in the world. Students get familiar with epidemiological characteristics of important infectious and non-infectious diseases. Model situations of epidemics and their solution algorithms will be presented. The aim of the course is to get the students familiar with epidemiological investigation in case of epidemics and with proposal of epidemiological measures. Students will learn about healthcare systems with an emphasis on the healthcare system in the world, the provision of health care, types of healthcare facilities, management in health care, economics and financing of health care, health care reimbursements, they will get an overview of health and social insurance in the world, basic health legislation and basic rules of quality and safety in healthcare. Final discussion with emphasis on the use of information obtained in clinical practice.

Learning activities and teaching methods
Lecture, Monologic Lecture(Interpretation, Training), Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Demonstration
Learning outcomes
The student gets to know the essence of public healthcare. The main topics are epidemiology, organization and financing of healthcare and disease prevention (vaccination of the population and surveillance of infectious diseases). The aim of the course is also to get the students familiar with epidemiological investigation in case of epidemics and with proposal of epidemiological measures.
After completing the course, the student has knowledge of the epidemiology of infectious and non-infectious diseases and their prevention possibilities. The student will be able to apply basic health standards in practice. The student will gain an overview of current health legislation for the health care provision in the Czech Republic.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of epidemiological methodology, EBM and general epidemiology.
PVL/VA011 and SLP/VA011
----- or -----
SLP/VA041 and IN3/VA012

Assessment methods and criteria
Student performance

Active participation in seminars, completion of assigned tasks to practice the subject matter, consultation with the teacher.
Recommended literature
  • British Medical Journal.
  • Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
  • European Journal of Public Health.
  • European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies website:.
  • Health Policy (Elsevier): Open access journal.
  • & Heyman, D. L. (2004). Control of communicable diseases manual. Washington: American Public Health Association.
  • Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
  • International Committee of the Red Cross: Ensuring the Preparedness and Security of Health-Care Facilities in Armed Conflict and Other Emergencies. ICRC, July 2015..
  • International Committee of the Red Cross: Protecting Health Care: Key Recommendations. ICRC, April 2016..
  • International Health Regulations: Second edition (2005).
  • Journal of American Medical Association.
  • New England Journal of Medicine.
  • Power-point presentations used for the lessons (available on Moodle).
  • & Sackett, D. L. (2000). Evidence-based medicine: how to practice and teach EBM. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.
  • World Bank Open Data.
  • World Health Organization.
  • Beauchamp, T.L., Childress, J.F. (2019). Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Berridge, V. (2016). Public Health: a Very Short Introduction. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press.
  • Boslaugh, S.E. (2013). Health Care Systems around the World. Sage.
  • Doherty, B. Action for Regional Health Security: Preparedness and response to serious cross-border threats to health, DG Sante C3 ? Crisis management and preparedness in health. .
  • Filho, L.W., Keenan, J.M. Climate Change Adaptation in North America: Fostering Resilience and the Regional Capacity to Adapt. Climate Change Management. Cham: Springer International Publishing. 2017.
  • Folland, S., Goodman, A.C., Stano, M. (2017). The Economics of Health and Health Care. London: Routledge.
  • Greenberg, R. S., Daniels, S. R., Flanders, D. W., Eley, J. W., & Boring, J. R. (2005). Medical epidemiology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • Guyatt, G., & Rennie, D. (2002). Users' guides to the medical literature: essentials of evidence-based clinical practice. Chicago: American Medical Association.
  • Marmot, M. Medical Care, Social Determinants of Health, and Health Equity. World Medical and Health Policy. 2018.
  • Marmot, M. Society and the Slow Burn of Inequiality. The Lancet.
  • Pan American Health Organization. https://www.paho.org/en. .
  • Rippe, J.M. Nutrition in Lifestyle Medicine. Cham: Springer International Publishing. 2017.
  • Schneider, M.J., Schneider, H.S. (2017). Introduction to Public Health. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
  • Schwaid, G. Board Review in Preventive Medicine and Public Health: Questions and Answers. London, England: Academic Press. 2017.
  • Thomas, M.S., McCue, M.J., Glick, N.D., Zelman, W.N. (2020). Financial Management of Health Care Organizations: An Introduction to Fundamental Tools, Concepts and Applications. Great Britain: Wiley.
  • WHO. The economics of social determinants of health and health inequalities: a resource book. Geneva. 2023.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Study plan (Version): General Medicine (2025) Category: Medical sciences 4 Recommended year of study:4, Recommended semester: -