SYKK2200B Public Health Course description

The course focuses on evidence-based public health work, with particular emphasis on health promotion and preventive efforts in community health services. Central themes include understanding how health challenges are distributed in the population. Therefore, you will learn how factors such as education, employment, living conditions, and the environment influence disease, health, and quality of life in the population at individual, group, and societal levels. The environment in which children and young people grow up is also part of the course.

In community health services, nurses have a significant responsibility to offer care and guidance to various population groups, including healthy individuals, vulnerable populations, and marginalised groups. One topic of discussion is how the development of service offerings and the use of technology in healthcare impact social, ethical, and political issues.

In this course, you will gain insight into scientific methods and undertake a group project related to practical internship (3 weeks), during which you will plan and execute a project under supervision. This project work provides the group with the opportunity to explore a chosen area of concern and employ suitable methods for data collection and analysis. The results will be presented orally as well as in written form as a project assignment.

In this course, you study together with students who are on exchange to OsloMet and much of the teaching is arranged with English-speaking groups.

To start this course, you must have passed:

• Passed the first year of study.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills, and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• can describe the purpose, organisation, and coordination of health and social services and be aware of relevant laws and regulations
• can describe the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their significance for public health
• can explain how patients' health literacy affects lifestyle changes and shared decision-making
• can explain the relationship between work, social participation, and health
• can discuss factors influencing the environment in which children and young people grow up, and explain how activity and well-being affect health, well-being, and disease prevention for all population groups
• can describe key issues related to women's health
• can describe key issues related to sexual health and sexually transmitted diseases
• can explain how migration, displacement, and legal status can impact an individual's health
• can reflect on health promotion and prevention work at individual, group, and societal levels, emphasising how digital solutions can support preventive strategies and health-promoting measures
• can describe fundamental concepts, mechanisms, and tools behind digitalisation and explain how digitalisation shapes public and private life
• can describe the impact of digitalisation, technology availability, and the importance of digital competence on people's lives, public health, and social health disparities
• can describe social inequality in health and be aware of national and global consequences of inequality
• can explain how research can contribute to knowledge development to understand public health and societal needs, such as technological advancement
• have knowledge of how different issues guide relevant research methods

Skills

The student

• can reflect on ethical aspects related to public health efforts aimed at behavior change
• can identify various health promotion and preventive strategies and measures and evaluate them considering the Sustainable Development Goals
• can reflect on the Sami people's status as indigenous people related to the design of health and social services
• can provide examples of how digital solutions can affect social determinants related to health and lifestyle
• can apply professional knowledge and scientific methods to plan and execute a project in health promotion and preventive work
• can reflect on quality concepts in qualitative versus quantitative methods such as validity, reliability, validity, and reliability
• can reflect on ethical dilemmas related to the collection and use of health data in various contexts
• can identify ethical challenges in the use of health technology in the health service
• can master general first aid

General competence

The student

• can discuss factors influencing disease, health, and quality of life in groups or the population as a whole
• can discuss how technology and digital strategies can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
• can reflect on health risks in individuals dealing with demanding caregiving tasks, family substance abuse problems, individuals who have experienced neglect and/or violence in close relationships
• can discuss how digital technologies can build and influence interprofessional collaboration in healthcare
• can reflect on how different methodological choices can yield different types of knowledge
• knows measures to preserve life and health in the event of major accidents and in crisis and disaster situations

Lectures, teaching programs from the University Library, project-based practical training (five weeks) group work, first aid course, self-study, and participation with presentations at seminars.

The following must have been completed and approved in order for a student to take the exam:

Part 1

• Project-based practical training, 90 % attendance of timetabled activity marked as compulsory.

Part 2

• Course i first aid

The course deals with applied statistics and statistical tools used in biomedical research, method development and method validation at medical laboratories. The course also comprises quality assurance systems for such laboratories.

Students must have been admitted to the Master’s Programme in Health and Technology - Specialisation in Biomedicine. The course is also offered as an individual course, with the same admission requirements as for the specialisation.

After completing the course, the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• can justify the choice of systems and procedures for quality monitoring and quality assurance of analysis processes
• can describe systems and processes relating to the accreditation and certification of medical laboratories
• can statistically assess and establish a reference area
• can determine and assess the specificity, sensitivity and accuracy of analytical methods
• can explain the concepts predictive value, odds ratio and ROC curves
• can explain the laws and regulations that regulate medical laboratory activities
• can explain how durability tests of sample material are carried out

Skills

The student

• can apply statistical methods and tools, such as table analysis, variance analysis, correlation, and simple and multiple linear and logistic regression
• can carry out and explain hypothesis testing, parametric and non-parametric methods, as well as correlation and regression analysis
• can use one and two-way variance analysis for repeated measurements
• can assess and discuss the significance of pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical sources of error for the result/quality of the analysis
• can choose and apply statistical methods used to quality assure medical laboratories
• can plan and carry out comparisons of analytical methods and assess measures
• can apply advanced knowledge of analytical variation in terms of repeatability and reproducibility

General competence

The student

• can describe key methods for statistical analysis and make justified choices of statistical methods for use in research and method validation
• can discuss and analyse relevant issues and actively contribute to the execution of advanced work tasks relating to quality control and quality assurance in laboratories

In this course, students will learn about the key theories, concepts and values of nursing, and what defines nursing as an independent profession. Human beings’ fundamental needs and resources, and what promotes, impedes and maintains balance in people's fundamental needs are central aspects of the course. This forms the basis for the nurse’s duties both in the municipal and specialist health service. Furthermore, ethical perspectives and assessment, action and decision-making processes in nursing will be studied, as well as the relational responsibility of the nurse.

Admission to the programme.