Monash College Handbook

Biomedical Sciences and Society (MCD7090)

Purpose

This unit introduces students to the role of biomedicine in society. One of the main objectives of public health is to apply the findings of clinical, social and biomedical research in a way that effectively improves the health of society. This is an important process which involves a number of elements including observation, research, analysis, application and evaluation. The unit is divided into two parts: Epidemiology & Public Health, and Biostatistics

Prerequisites

Nil

Learning outcomes

At the completion of the Epidemiology and Public Health stream, students should be able to:

1. appreciate, describe and apply the basic principles of study design.
2. apply their understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different epidemiological study designs.
3. understand the place of ethics in medicine and describe how this is shaped by society.
4. appreciate the applications of biomedical research in the "real world".
5. critically appraise biomedical literature.

At the completion of the Biostatistics stream, students should be able to:

1. appreciate and describe the importance of statistical methods in the design, analysis and presentation of the results of research studies in health and biomedicine and in reports of health-related matters in general.
2. recognise when particular research designs and statistical methods are appropriate.
3. interpret statistical results presented in the biomedical literature and other media and convey the interpretation in simple language.
4. perform basic statistical analyses using a computer or calculator and interpret the results.
5. understand and explain the concepts involved in multi-variable statistical methods common in the biomedical literature.

Assessment

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