The Pre-Professional Program is designed to give students from all colleges the same English program in their first three semesters. In the fourth semester of the 2 year plan, the students take courses that are closely related to their health science specialties.

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.

Pre-Professional Year 1

 

PRE-PROFESSIONAL YEAR 1

Semester 1  
Subject Code & No. Credit hrs
English Communication Skills I ENGL 101 5
English Language Structures and Drills I ENGL 102 4
English Academic Reading and Vocabulary I  ENGL 103 5
Arabic English Language Skills I ARBC 101 2
Islamic Culture  ISLM 101 2
Total  18
   
Semester 2  
Subject Code & No. Credit hrs
English Communication Skills II ENGL 111 2
English Language Structures and Drills II ENGL 112 2
English Academic Reading and Vocabulary II                                                 ENGL 113                           2               
Arabic English Language Skills I ARBC 111 2
Biology for Health Sciences BIOL 101 2
Chemistry for Health Sciences CHEM 101 4
Physics for Health Sciences PHYS 101 4
Total  18

 

 

THE PRE-PROFESSIONAL YEAR 1 (FIRST SEMESTER)

ENGL 101 - ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS I
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 1 (5 credits)
Oral Skills Lab: (5 hrs/week)
Writing 1: Elementary Composition (2 hrs/week)
Supplementary Reading and Discussion: (3 hrs/week)

Course Description

This is a four-month course in communication skills designed for students in their first semester of the Pre-Professional Program. It emphasizes the development of general listening and speaking skills essential for daily communication tasks inside and outside the classroom. It also introduces students to elementary composition techniques, and provides them with regular reading practice from a variety of sources such as graded readers and passages selected from original articles published in a variety of periodicals and newspapers. The course is divided into three components: an Oral Skills Lab, Supplementary Reading and Discussion Sessions, and Writing Workshops. The approach is multi-skilled; all four language skills are developed systematically and new vocabulary is integrated into thematically arranged units. Oral discussion sessions are a fundamental part of the Skills Lab and Supplementary Reading components, and student critiquing is an important part of the Writing Workshops.

 

ENGL 102 - ENGLISH LANGUAGE STRUCTURES & DRILLS I
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 1 (4 credits) - (5 hrs/week)

Course Description

This course is the first half of the Intermediate Language Structures and Drills sequence. It provides students with an overview of the English tense system in the active voice, and introduces them to basic patterns of sentence structure. It begins with a review of the simple and progressive tenses (present and past) and future forms with will and be going to, and then introduces the present perfect, present perfect progressive and past perfect forms. It also provides a review of direct question formation and simple noun phrase construction. Students are given practice in recognizing the basic clausal patterns of English and expanding sentence skeletons with modifying adjectives and adverbials. Throughout the course, grammatical structures are presented through an active oral approach and reinforced through extensive drill practice, guided conversation exercises and daily written homework assignments.

 

ENGL 103 - ENGLISH ACADEMIC READING AND VOCABULARY I
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 1 (5 credits)

Course Description

This course is the first half of the Intermediate Academic 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 textbooks and students are taught word building strategies. They are also taught 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 regular homework assignments.

 

ARBC 101 - ARABIC LANGUAGE SKILLS

Course Length: 15 Weeks each
Semester: 1 (2 Credits)

Course Description

This Arabic language course introduces the students to the skills of communication, which include listening, speaking and reading. The course also aims at introducing the basic skills for learning syntax, including the parts of speech such as the verb, noun and article, their forms and roles in speech. The course also covers syntactic analysis, including the dual, plural and verb conjugations. It also introduces Arabic dictionaries, their origin, kinds and how to use them.

 

ISLM 101 - ISLAMIC CULTURE

Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 1 (2 Credits)

Course Description

This course provides students with an overview of Islamic culture, and presents fundamental and modern perspectives based on the Quran and Sunnah. It teaches the students that Islamic culture can fulfill their needs and can provide them with a comprehensive approach to life. It aims at protecting them from cultural invasion and devious and destructive thoughts that can undermine the cultural and intellectual structure of their Islamic society in the Kingdom. It also aims at inculcating a sense of belonging to the Islamic culture. The students are taught that Islamic culture is part of their faith, and as Muslims they should be proud of the high values of their religion.

 

THE PRE-PROFESSIONAL YEAR 1 (SECOND SEMESTER) 

ENGL 111 - ENGLISH COMMUNICATION SKILLS II
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 2 (2 credits)

Course Description

This is a four-month course in oral and written communication designed for students in their second semester of the Pre-Professional Program. It emphasizes the development of listening and speaking skills essential for daily communication tasks inside and outside of the classroom. It also includes regular composition exercises to give students writing practice at the paragraph level. The approach is multi-skilled; all four language skills are developed systematically and new vocabulary is integrated into thematically arranged units. The course is divided into two components: Oral Skills Lab and Writing Workshops.

 

ENGL 112 - ENGLISH LANGUAGE STRUCTURES AND DRILLS II
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 2 (2 credits) - (4 hrs/week)

Course Description

This course is the second half of the Intermediate Language Structures and Drills sequence. It includes a review of the simple noun phrase, pronouns, count and non-count nouns, article usage and quantifiers, and covers modal auxiliary verbs and passive constructions appropriate for academic and scientific writing. It also provides students with a brief introduction to complex sentence structure, focusing primarily on the adjective clause and gerunds and infinitives. Throughout the course, grammatical structures are presented through an active oral approach and reinforced through extensive drill practice, guided conversation exercises and daily written homework assignments.

 

ENGL 113 - ENGLISH ACADEMIC READING AND VOCABULARY II
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 2 (2 credits) - (4 hrs/week)

Course Description

This course is the second half of the Intermediate Academic 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 program. Glossary lists are used along with the reading passages in the core textbooks and students are taught word building strategies. They are also taught 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.

 

ARBC 111 - ARABIC LANGUAGE SKILLS II
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 2 (2 Credits)

Course Description

The course aims at developing the writing skills of the students, starting at the word level and proceeding to the sentence, paragraph and essay levels. The course includes an introduction to Arabic editing terms and presents a definition of writing. It also covers the different modes of writing and the historical stages of recording written Arabic. The course also handles the components of writing such as the word, the sentence and the paragraph. It discusses the style and the characteristics of eloquent writing. The students also do literary analysis that includes prose and poetry, and receive training in writing summaries, letters and reports.

 

BIOL 101 - BIOLOGY FOR HEALTH SCIENCES
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 2 (2 Credits)

Course Description

This is an introductory course that aims to introduce students to the basic principles and concepts of biology. The course emphasizes the molecular and cellular basis of life, biochemical processes, cellular structure and function, cell growth and division. It also includes an introduction to viruses and bacteria. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to demonstrate understanding of life at the cellular and molecular levels.

 

CHEM 101 - CHEMISTRY FOR HEALTH SCIENCES
Credit Hours: 4
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 2

This course is divided into two parts: 

Part 1 : General Chemistry
The fundamentals of chemistry are covered in this part. Topics include chemical foundations, chemical composition and stoichiometry, classification of chemical reactions, atomic structure and periodic table, chemical bonding and molecular structure, major definitions of acids, bases and buffers, solution chemistry, liquids and solids, and intermolecular attractions.

Part 2 : Organic Chemistry
The organic chemistry part provides a broad introduction to the basic principles, theories and applications of the chemistry of carbon compounds. Topics include modern structural theory, organic nomenclature, stereochemistry, an introduction to functional group chemistry, preparation, reactions of alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, cyclic hydrocarbons, alkyl halides, aromatic compounds, ethers, epoxides, alcohols, phenols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids and derivatives, and amines. The organic part also provides an introduction to the chemistry of aromatic compounds.

 

PHYS 101 - PHYSICS FOR HEALTH SCIENCES
Course Length: 15 Weeks
Semester: 2 (4 Credits)

Course Description

A study of some of the major concepts and laws of classical and modern physics which will provide students with a foundation for understanding, at a conceptual level, the natural phenomena and technological applications encountered in medical fields (EKG, X-ray, CAT scan, Human eye, Endoscopes, Lasik, Radiation Therapy, etc.) and everyday life (GPS, Energy, Power, Sound Waves, Superconductivity, Global Warming, Ozone Layer, Radiation, Nuclear Reactors, Ipods, etc.).

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