Pre-Professional Year 2

 

PRE-PROFESSIONAL YEAR 2

Semester 1  
Subject Code & No. Credit hrs
Medical Terminology ENGL 201 2
Advance English Grammar ENGL 211 2
Advance English Reading and Vocabulary                                           ENGL 212 2
Biochemistry BIOC 211 4
Biostatistics & Introduction to EBHP                                                 BIOS 201 2
Behavioral Science BHSC 201 2
Computer Science and Medical Informatics COMP 201 3
Elective ELEC 201 1
Total  18
   
Semester 2  (Pre-Pharma)
Subject Code & No. Credit hrs
Anatomy & Physiology for Pre-Pharma PPHR 211 4
Principles for Diseases for Pre-Pharma PPHR 212 4
Basic Pharmacology for Pre-Pharma                                                 PPHR 213                           3               
Pharmaceutical Organic Chemistry PHBS 211 2
Ethics and Patient Safety ETHC 201 2
Health Professions Education EDUC 201 3
Total  18

 

 

THE PRE-PROFESSIONAL YEAR 2 (FIRST SEMESTER)

ENGL 201 - MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 3 (2 credits) - (2 hrs/week)

Course Description

Students learn to decipher the meaning of medical terms by breaking them down into their components, i.e., roots, prefixes, suffixes and combining vowels. Emphasis is placed on mastery of these components and their usage in order to develop a strong foundation on which students can build as they pursue their medical studies. Since medical terminology is closely related to the structure (anatomy) and systems (physiology) of the human body, this course also provides the students with an opportunity to explore some of these systems and study anatomy, physiology, pathology, clinical procedures, lab tests and abbreviations pertaining to them. Practical applications present terms as they appear in medical reports and records.

 

ENGL 211 - ADVANCED ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 3 (2 credits)
Advance Grammar (3 hrs/week)
Writing III (2 hrs/week)

Course Description

This course consists of two interconnected components – an academic writing component conducted through a series of weekly workshops and an advanced grammar component. The grammar component begins with a brief review of the English tense system and includes structures not covered at the Intermediate Level: the past perfect progressive, future progressive, future perfect and future perfect progressive. The remainder of the grammar component focuses on multi-clause sentence structures essential for academic writing. Students review the use of coordinating conjunctions in compound sentences and gain extensive practice in analyzing and constructing complex sentences containing noun clauses, adjective clauses and a wide range of adverbial clauses. Conditional sentences are also included. The writing workshops provide students with a developmental, step-by-step approach to academic paragraph writing in preparation for multi-paragraph report/essay writing at an advanced level.

 

ENGL 212 - ADVANCED ENGLISH READING & VOCABULARY
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 3 (2 credits) – (3 hrs/week)

Course Description

This is the advanced course in the Reading and Vocabulary sequence. It emphasizes the development of reading and critical thinking skills essential for academic studies at the university level. Vocabulary development is also stressed throughout the course. Glossary lists are used along with the reading passages in the core textbook. Students are taught word building strategies and how to infer the meaning of unknown words from context and are encouraged to use an English-English dictionary. Reading skills are reinforced through regular in-class activities and homework assignments.

 

BIOC 211 - BIOCHEMISTRY
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 3 (4 Credits)

Course Description

This is a general biochemistry course designed to introduce students to the chemical structures of cellular macromolecules: carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. Principles of bioenergetics will be explained and then the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and nitrogen-containing materials such as amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids and related compounds and their regulatory mechanisms will be discussed. The course will include the digestion, absorption, transport and transformation of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, vitamins, water and minerals. It will also cover related biochemical techniques.

 

BIOS 201 - BIOSTATISTICS & INTRODUCTION TO EBHP
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 3 (2 Credits)

Course Description

The Biostatistics part of this course provides an introduction to the basic conceptual and quantitative tools of commonly used descriptive and inferential statistical procedures, to enable students to understand and interpret basic statistical methods. Topics include study designs used in medical research, descriptive statistics and graphical displays of data, basic concepts of probability and probability distributions, continuous distributions including normal, Binomial, c2 and t-distribution, estimation and hypothesis testing, descriptive and comparative bivariate data analysis. The course also provides practical hands-on computer sessions aimed at teaching students basics of usage of a major statistical software (SPSS) and a user-friendly statistical package (STATDISK) for statistical analysis.

The Evidence-Based Medicine (EBHP) part of the course will provide the basics of integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values. More specifically, the basics of literature search, reading health literature, and writing a report will be introduced.

In addition to teaching students fundamental concepts of statistics, this course will also provide students with an ideal opportunity to foster student growth in these important areas:
- Critical thinking
- Problem-based learning and technology usage
- Working cooperatively in groups

 

BHSC 201 - BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 3 (2 Credits)

Course Description

Behavioral sciences is a branch of science concerned with the systematic study of human behavior; how we learn, think and interact with others, what motivates our actions and the role of personality and individual differences in behavior. It examines individuals and their behavior along with the behavior of societies, groups and cultures. The study of behavior is one of the major contributors to medical science.

This course is designed to prepare health profession students to recognize and become more comfortable with the psychological and social issues that patients bring to the medical setting. These psychosocial issues which are relevant to healthcare practice are discussed thoroughly in this course with a focus on practical applications and use of a problem-solving approach. Students will explore various methods for studying human behavior and learn basic concepts in the fields of psychology and sociology, particularly as they relate to the health professions.

The course will provide an overview of the psychological/behavioral components of health and illness. The focus is on the theoretical and practical bases for understanding the complexities of relationships between the doctor, patients, their families, their environments, and their health issues. It will highlight ways in which the doctor-patient relationship is at the core of medical care and is significantly impacted by other factors such as the background, history, and current status of the patient and the self-awareness, attitudes and professionalism of the physician.
The course will examine the ways in which developmental stages can be used to understand the behavior, thoughts and emotions of a patient whether in childhood, adolescence, or aging. This course will also cover cognitive processes such as memory and learning and their effects on patients' behaviors and emotions. It will also explore common psychosocial issues that cross the lines of specialties, such as grief and stress.
The core principles for the behavioral science course are to encourage students to:
• Adapt bio-psycho-social and relationship-centered approaches to care.
• Promote the integration of socio-cultural factors within the delivery and organization of health care services.
• Emphasize the impact of familial, social, cultural, spiritual, and environmental contexts in patient care to improve health outcomes.
• Integrate psychological and behavioral knowledge into the care of physical symptoms and diseases.
• Integrate mental health into primary health care services.
• Promote patient self-efficacy and behavior change as primary factors in health care.
• Practice a developmental and life cycle perspective with patients.
• Encourage and support health care provider self-awareness, coping strategies, and well-being.

 

COMP 201 - COMPUTER SCIENCE & MEDICAL INFORMATICS
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 3 (3 Credits)

Course Description

This course is divided into four components that meet the general objectives of the course; these parts consist of the following:

• Introduction to Information Technology
This is the most crucial part of the course. In this section, students study an introduction to Computer Architecture, Windows Operating Systems, Utilities Software, Data Management, Algorithms, Security, Ethics, Search Engines, and internet services. The goal of this part is to prepare the students for the proper use of the e-curriculum and internet facilities. Furthermore, the students will be provided with a solid foundation that will enable them to understand the informatics today.

• Introduction to Medical Informatics
In this section, students will study an introduction to Medical Informatics, mHealth, Health Information System, Telemedicine and Future Medical Computing Technology. The goal of this section is to introduce the students to various computer technologies available in the field of medicine. It also gives them a clear idea about the relationship between IT and the medical field.

• Typing Skills
Students are required to do typing practice outside of the class to gradually increase their blind typing abilities. To ensure this, the computer labs have been supplied with testing and evaluation applications that monitor and record the progress of each student.

• Office Automation & Project
In the computer lab, students will form groups and perform step-by-step tutorials with the help of a tutor. These tutorials are used to gradually teach office applications skills on the basis of what is taught in the Introduction to Information Technology. At the end of the tutorial sessions, students will be given a project which will cover what they have studied. The students are required to submit the project's results for discussion before they give their presentations.

 

THE PRE-PROFESSIONAL YEAR 2 (SECOND SEMESTER) 

PMED 211 - ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 4 (4 Credits)

Course Description

Anatomy is the science of the structure of the human body, whereas physiology is the science of the functions of the different body systems. Health science students should understand the basic anatomy and physiology of the human body and their clinical significance. This is necessary for understanding of pathology and clinical sciences such as medicine, surgery etc.

This course is designed to provide health science students with an understanding of macroscopic human anatomy and its relationship at the organ level. A strong emphasis is placed on the association between structure and function of different body systems.

 

PMED 212 - PRINCIPLES OF DISEASES
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 4 (4 Credits)

Course Description

The Principles of Diseases Course introduces health science students to the basic processes involved in host defense and disease causation. It covers the major categories of human diseases and consists of three integrated disciplines: immunology, microbiology and general pathology. Students are expected to learn the scientific basis through which the immune system distinguishes self from non-self, how the immune system protects the host from microbes and foreign substances and the mechanisms of immune mediated diseases. The course also presents concepts of microbiology and cellular injury and adaptation, inflammation as a reparative and disease causing process. In addition, students are expected to learn modern concepts of cancer causation, cancer terminology and morphology as well as the biologic behavior of benign and malignant neoplasms. Tissue and host responses to viral and bacterial agents are presented. Mechanisms of disease causation are illustrated through clinically relevant examples.

The course will be taught through interactive lectures, practical sessions, problem-based small group sessions, and integrated seminars. Understanding the basic principles of diseases is an essential part of a student's journey in a medical school and other health sciences colleges. There will be other future blocks that require that the student understand the principles of diseases.

 

PMED 213 - BASIC PHARMACOLOGY
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 4 (3 Credits)

Course Description

This is an introductory course emphasizing the general principles of pharmacology to health science students. The course is designed to give a simple overview of the subject to students who have not been exposed to pharmacology before. During this block, certain topics in pharmacology will be covered: general aspects of pharmacology, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic, drug effects on the autonomic and central nervous system, drugs used in renal and cardiovascular systems, drugs influence in inflammation, respiratory tract, gastroenterology, drug effects on the endocrine system and chemotherapy agents.

 

PHBS 211 - PHARMACEUTICAL ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Course Length: 15 Weeks                       

Semester: 4 (2 Credits)

Course Description

This course discusses the organic chemistry concepts that are of relevance to Medicinal Chemistry in particular and other pharmaceutical sciences in general. It focus on selected topics that are essential to comprehend the chemical aspects of drug metabolism, drug-receptor interactions and drug mechanisms of action. The course starts by reviewing functional groups and organic reaction with emphasis on concepts such as acid-base chemistry, resonance and conjugation. The course will discuss in relative details the mechanism of certain organic reaction and tie closely to various aspects of drug metabolism and mechanisms of action of some drug classes such acetylcholine esterase inhibitors and ACE-inhibitors.

 

ETHC 201 - ETHICS & PATIENT SAFETY
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 4 (2 Credits)

Course Description

Medical ethics has been defined as "the analytical activity in which the concepts, assumptions, beliefs, attitudes, emotions, reasons and arguments underlying medico-moral decision making are examined critically." Medical ethics in the Pre-Professional Program at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences is well-integrated into the multidisciplinary blocks across the different phases of the curriculum. In these sessions, students will acquire knowledge and skills needed to resolve ethical conflicts in health care. The objective is to provide students with an appreciation of ethics in general, teach them the importance of ethics for everyday clinical practice and help them acquire the ability to address the ethical concerns of the patients. Thus, the orientation of undergraduate ethics teaching is towards professional ethics, as opposed to philosophical ethics. By the end of their training, students should be aware of the most important ethical aspects of medical care and be able to understand and manage ethical dilemmas when they occur.

 

EDUC 201 - HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATION
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 4 (3 Credits)

Course Description

The course will introduce the students to the concepts and principles of Problem-Based Learning (PBL), including the PBL process, working with others, communication, Self-Directed Learning (SDL), E-learning, critical thinking, and skills lab through small group work, lectures, assignments and presentations.

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