Epidemiology is a compulsory course in the 5th year of the Integrated undergraduate and graduate university study of Medicine in English held in the twelfth semester. It comprises 30 hours of lectures, 15 hours of seminars, and 15 hours of practicals, totaling 60 class hours (3.5 ECTS credits).

The aim of the course is to prepare the students for professional jobs and tasks based on the acquired knowledge of epidemiology, as they will participate as doctors of medicine in the control and prevention of diseases (primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of communicable and chronic mass diseases). It implies knowledge of the foundations of the epidemiological characteristics of communicable and chronic mass diseases, understanding disease prevention and control measures, and anti-epidemic measures and their role in these affairs,

Course content: students will be introduced to the organization and functioning of the epidemiological service and the ways sanitary-epidemiological unit communicate with other healthcare teams, primarily in the field of early alerting and reporting of diseases and health conditions, on-scene interventions, population screening programs, sampling, and other disease control and prevention measures in the population. Students will be familiarized with the epidemiology of infectious and non-infectious diseases and statistical data processing in epidemiology.

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:

I. COGNITIVE DOMAIN – KNOWLEDGE

Students will:

• be trained for future participation in the epidemiological information system 

• be familiarized with their obligations under the Law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases 

• be able to identify unusual groupings or epidemics of diseases and other unexpected events 

• be able to identify risk factors for diseases in their patients and apply general measures to prevent mass diseases 

• be able to recognize the importance of prevention measures such as vaccination and early detection of chronic mass diseases in the population 

• be able to explain preventive and anti-epidemic disinfection, disinsection and deratization 

• acquire basic knowledge of interventional epidemiology, epidemiological diagnostics, chemoprophylaxis, and seroprophylaxis 

• be able to apply this knowledge in practical work.

II. PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN – SKILLS

In classes, students will demonstrate the calculation of measures of association and measures of occurrence in epidemiological data processing, which they will be able to apply and perform later in their practice. Knowledge of basic scientific-analytical epidemiology, epidemiological methods, and epistemology of epidemiology will serve students as a basis for future scientific work (critical analysis of knowledge, interpretation of bias in research, analysis of research limitations).

Teaching: The course is taught at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka and the Institute of Public Health of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. Lectures, seminars, and practicals are conducted using a PowerPoint presentation. Seminars and practicals require active student participation. Students must prepare in advance for certain practical and seminar classes

The student is required to prepare the material being discussed concerning attitudes toward vaccination. Students will be divided into two groups, one of which will advocate against vaccination and the other for vaccination. The debate will be mentored by the teacher. Attitudes for/against vaccination will be supported by data from professional and scientific literature.

The teacher evaluates student participation during seminar classes (demonstrated knowledge, comprehension, problem-solving skills, reasoning, etc.). The teacher assesses student participation during seminar and practical classes, as well as connection and synthesis of prior knowledge adopted in previous lectures. Students should explain and substantiate a particular topic being covered.