Master of Medicine in Public Health Medicine

Purpose

To educate and train public health medicine specialist who can contribute to the development of knowledge to protect, preserve and promote the health of communities and populations in a multidisciplinary manner at an advanced level such that they are prepared for advanced and specialised professional employment. The aim of this qualification is to meet the needs for formal examination certification as well as to meet the standards, nationally for such qualifications. The qualification incorporates an important part of the formal training requirements for the specialty of Public Health Medicine.

Rationale

There is a national need for learner who meet the requirements for admission to the specialist register of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), and who will contribute to the health and wellbeing of our population. Such learners are required to possess a high level of competence and specialised skill in this discipline, as well as generic competencies in a range of defined domains such as communication and leadership skills. An understanding of scientific enquiry, scholarship and research is important to the future of academic medicine. This qualification is positioned in order to meet these needs. Public Health Medicine is a branch of medicine concerned with the health of populations. The Public Health Medicine specialist uses population health knowledge and skills to play leading and collaborative roles in the maintenance and improvement of the health and well-being of the community. Through interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral partnerships, the Public Health & Preventive Medicine specialist measures the health needs of populations and develops strategies for improving health and well-being, through health promotion, disease prevention and health protection. Public Health Medicine is a registered speciality in the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. Hence there is a need for this speciality to be offered by institutions training medical specialists. In addition, the Department of Health has made registrar training posts available and the HPCSA has provided training numbers for these posts. The Public Health Medicine specialist demonstrates skills in leadership, development of public policy, and the design, implementation and evaluation of health programs, and applies them to a broad range of community health issues. The Public Health Medicine specialist can engage in a number of careers, for example: the practice of public health at a local, regional, national or international level; the planning and administration of health services, whether in institutions or in government; community-oriented clinical practice progression with an emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention; the assessment and control of occupational and environmental health problems; teaching; and research.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

The institution accepts the principle underlying outcomes-based, source-based and life-long learning, in which considerations of articulation and mobility play a significant role, and subscribes to the view that Recognition of Prior Learning, whether acquired by formal education curricula at this or another institution or informally (by experience) is an indispensable element in deciding on admission to and awarding credits in an explicitly selected teaching-learning qualification of the institution.

An applicant who falls outside of the formal qualifications system, but who can demonstrate (through the production of substantial and satisfactory evidence) experiential or work-based learning or a non-formal qualification (or a combination), may be considered for admission and/or for the Recognition of Prior Learning for the achievement of the qualification in part or in full. An applicant who after such assessment, is deemed to have sufficient potential, but is in need of further academic development, must be directed to other suitable learning qualifications prior to admission or to parallel qualifications after admission.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is the

• Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 8, with two years' experience including Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) requirements.

This qualification comprises of compulsory modules at National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 9 totalling at 720 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, Level 9, 720 Credits

• Qualitative Research Methods, 16 Credits.
• People's Health Movement (PHM) Professional Practice 1, 190 Credits.
• Health Measurement (Analytic), 16 Credits.
• Public Health Principles and Practice, 16 Credits.
• Health Measurement (Descriptive), 16 Credits.
• Research Methods and Bioethics, 16 Credits.
• Epidemiology (Intermediate), 16 Credits.
• Research Dissertation (Public Health Medicine), 164 Credits.
• PHM Professional Practice II, 270.

1. Describe, explain, quantify and prioritise health risks facing individuals, communities and society, at home, at work, at leisure and in transit.
2. Explain, quantify and analyse the nature, pattern and quality of health services provided for, and demanded by, individuals, communities and society, including recommendations for an appropriate, acceptable and affordable level of service provision that is effective, efficient and equitable.
3. Design and implement quality assured, effective, efficient, equitable, affordable and acceptable interventions to reduce, eliminate, or ameliorate the health risks faced by individuals and communities at work, at home, at leisure and in transit.
4. Communicate effectively using written and oral methods.
5. Use science and technology responsibly and ethically.
6. Demonstrate good interpretative skills as well as sensitivity for community values and the environment.
7. Act consistently within levels of competence and professional norms.

Evaluation of learner's vocational attachments

• Ability to answer integrated practical assignments and case studies.
• Performance in written, practical and oral examination.

Integrated Assessment

Learners on the qualification will have the opportunity to be assessed through a range of methods for both formative and summative purposes. Learners will have the opportunity to display a range of foundational, practical and reflexive competencies developed through their experience as professionals and throughout the course. In terms of: 1) formative-coursework, learners will be expected to successfully complete all the core modules and be assessed through an examination 2) Assignments are set and marked for each module and cover the range of clinical, epidemiological and statistical content. 3) Learners will conduct their own substantive research project following a critical review of the current literature. They will select, evaluate and refine hypotheses, develop hypotheses, set operational aims and objectives, compile methods for data collection and analysis and critically evaluate their results and limitations and discuss their implications for knowledge and implementation of preventive measures in the workplace. The standard will be of a publishable article in a quality scientific journal. Communication of the results of the research will be assessed by means of a final oral presentation and written report. 4). Supervised health service rotations and industry/workplace clinic attachments will also form an important component of the learning programme so as to ensure that the necessary clinical and occupational health management skills are acquired. Learners will be required to keep a portfolio of their practical work products (e.g. reports, policies, analyses, studies, articles) and will be required to be presented for inspection at the oral examination).

At the end of each rotation, the clinical supervisor together with the complete the formative assessment form as per the College format. Where the rotation has involved a substantial clinical component, a log book is kept of procedures done and patients seen. In terms of summative assessment certification, by head of the learners' training department, that: a) The learner will have completed at least 4 calendar years as a registered learner for the qualification (Public Health Medicine or Community Health) or an equivalent degree at his/her institution on the date of the first written paper, and has held a post recognised by the Health Professions Council of South Africa for the training of a specialist in Public Health Medicine for at least three calendar years. b) The learner has mastered at least 75% of the skills listed in Appendix A, Section 3, of the Regulations for Admission to the Fellowship of the College of Public Health Medicine of South Africa, as amended up to 6 months prior to the date of the first written paper c) The candidate has successfully completed and passed the dissertation for the qualification, and that the dissertation was examined by at least two external examiners (i.e. from different institutions to that of the learner). A three-hour multiple choice paper consisting of 60 questions and three-hour paper of short answer questions. The learner will be required to answer 10 questions without a choice. A three-hour paper of essay questions designed specifically to test the learners' integrative and written communication skills. There will be four questions and the candidate will be required to answer three of these. Attending, by the candidate, at an oral examination. The oral examination will be in two parts each lasting 30 minutes. One part will consist of an oral discourse on the topic/field of the learners' choice while the other will consist of general questions that may cover the entire syllabus. There will be at least 4 examiners from at least 2 institutions at each oral and the two orals may be conducted in either order. There may be a break between the two orals at the convenors discretion. In order for the identified assessment purposes on ensuring that a learner has obtained the necessary competence to be achieved, multiple choice examination, short questions, essay questions and oral examination will form part of assessment methods.