This course is planned and developed by a cooperative multi-disciplinary partnership of the College of Medicine faculty and the community-based health services providers.  The course is responsive to the evolving social and health systems of Saudi Arabia. It serves medical students by providing community-centered learning experiences. Community medicine at Alfaisal College of Medicine is a longitudinal program consisting of several courses. This first course includes field visits to some of the community medical centers.  Also, integral to the course is the Community Oriented Research Project, wherein students undertake a field research project that explores relevant community health issues, such as prevalence of disease and illness, factors affecting such illness, and community attitudes to and knowledge of the problems affecting them. In our everyday clinic we start to see patterns and trends:  epidemics of heart disease, obesity, depression, substance abuse. Using the tools and basic principles of community medicine/public health and epidemiology, we can take the next step of learning about the factors that lie behind these illnesses and deal appropriately with them.  This course is designed to teach students the basic principles of community medicine/public health and confirm what they already know:  that, through community involvement, physicians have the knowledge and the opportunity to change our society/communities for the better.

Semester: Fall

Offered: Tue, 01/06/2015 - 02:12

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