Health Professions Department Courses
The Health Professions program offers an opportunity for students to discuss current topics within the healthcare field and interact with healthcare professionals, hearing first-hand stories of the challenges and joys of serving others in a variety of healthcare careers. Three courses are taught providing unique experiences for students to engage, explore and personally reflect upon various issues within the healthcare environment.
SCI 200: Introduction to the Health Professions is designed to help students gain a deeper understanding of the variety of professions impacting the healthcare environment today. Emphasis is placed upon the skills and attributes needed to effectively prepare for entry into the professions. Students will explore health care history, health disparities, healthcare delivery, and culture as it relates to healthcare practice, inter-professional collaboration and professionalism. This course is intended for freshmen and sophomore students.
SCI 220: Health Professions Practicum provides students opportunities to observe the clinical and administrative responsibilities of various health careers. The course focuses on Christian understandings of vocation and calling, fosters self-reflection on the observational experience, healthcare topics, and facilitates assessment of work-related skills. The practicum includes a summative assignment in which students consider the links between healthcare issues, interpersonal communication and faith in their future healthcare practice.
SCI 290/291: Health Professions Colloquium provides a variety of topical discussions on issues relevant to work in the healthcare profession today. Dialogue and reflection upon the impact of the Christian faith and issues of medical ethics and care of various patient populations included. Discussions and assignments will prepare students for application to health profession programs. This course is open to students in their junior and senior year.
Health Related Courses Offered by Other Departments
AHS 311: Introduction to Public Health (4 Credits)
This course provides an introduction to the field of public health, focused on case studies of contemporary public health issues in the U.S. and globally. Students will be exposed to public health in historical perspective and to current career paths in the field, will gain an understanding of public health theory and public health's mandate to prevent disease in populations, and will learn to critically analyze health issues from a public health and interdisciplinary perspective. Emphasis will be given to social, cultural, and structural determinants of health, to health promotion and disease prevention interventions, and to the relationship of public health to God's promise of shalom.
AHS 392: Public Health Research Theory and Methods (4 Credits)
This course is designed to introduce students to the perspectives, methods, and techniques of qualitative and quantitative public health research. Students will gain an understanding of the theoretical foundations of human subjects research, methods of data collection and analysis, research ethics and ethics board approval, study design and participant recruitment, and presentation of research findings. Each student will engage in a research project (writing a research proposal, collecting data, and/or analyzing data), with the goal of applying course content and developing practical skills in either qualitative or quantitative research methods. Pre or Corequisite: AHS 281 and AHS 381.
BIOL 318: Global Health (4 Credits)
An interdisciplinary approach to understanding the global patterns of health and disease. Students in this course will describe and analyze how ecology, social class, race and gender impact the global burden of disease. Students will also consider how our Christian call to love our neighbor impacts our response to the disparities seen in the global burden of disease. It is strongly recommended to take a Scientific Practice (SP) course first.
CORE 344: AIS-Gender and Global Health (4 Credits)
An interdisciplinary approach to using a gender lens to understand the global patterns of health and disease. While focusing on gendered inequalities, students in this course will describe and analyze how ecology, social class, and race interact with gender and impact the global burden of disease. Students will also consider how our Christian call to love our neighbor impacts our response to the disparities seen in the global burden of disease.
ECON 364: Health Economics (4 Credits)
This course uses the tools of economics to gain insight into health and health care issues in both the developed and developing world. Topics covered include: health production and the demand for health; health insurance and insurance markets; the role of government in health care; health interventions and challenges of health improvement in developing countries. At the end of the class, students should be able to apply economic paradigms to global health policy issues, and critically evaluate empirical evidence of what "works" and what doesn't. Prerequisite: ECON 326.
Consult the course catalog for full listing of current courses available.
