Department of SPM – Public Health@UM: Creating the future of Public Health

MBBS-NIC Programme

The following page describes the involvement of the Department in the University of Malaya’s Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) New Integrated Curriculum, the MMBS NIC Programme was replaced with the Universiti Malaya Medical Programme (UMMP) in 2012.

Together with the other 22 teaching departments in the Faculty of Medicine, the Department of SPM is involved in the undergraduate medical course (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery). The Department is responsible to deliver one of the four themes (curriculum content) in the programme, i.e., the Population Medicine Theme (Pop Med) over the three Stages (time-related). This is achieved through teaching and field training.

Teaching

The teaching courses being conducted by the department for the MB,BS students are:

  1. The Management of Self
  2. Foundations of Epidemiology
  3. Medical Statistics
  4. The Management of Resources
  5. Epidemiology of Specific Diseases
  6. Family Health
  7. Health Promotion
  8. The Management of People
  9. Environmental Health
  10. Occupational Health
  11. International Classification of Diseases

The teaching component is mainly delivered during Stage 1 and Stage 2. The stages are further divided into blocks;

Stage 1

  • Language in Medicine
  • Foundation Block
  • Musculoskeletal Science Block
  • Cardiovascular Science Block
  • Respiratory Science Block

Stage 2

  • Hematology Block
  • Neuroscience, Vision and Behaviour Block
  • Endocrinology, Nutrition and Reproductive Health
  • Renal and Urology Block
  • Gastroenterology and Nutrition
  • Oncology and Palliative Care

During each of the blocks, the department will be contributing to problem-based learning, lectures, seminars, and essentials reading topics.

Most of the SPM academic courses are run solely by the SPM Department while one is run together with other departments in the faculty. Of the three field programs, two are run exclusively by the SPM Department while one is run in conjunction with other departments.

Field Training

The in-house course conducted by the department serve to provide theoretical basis for the knowledge in the field of Public Health which is to be acquired by the student. However Public Health is a very real subject and involves work in the community. It is not possible to illustrate these practical aspects during classroom teaching although simulations can be attempted. it is felt that there is no better way than for the student to experience the real problems in the community itself.

To supplement and complement its in-house teaching program, the SPM Department conducts three field programs for the students in the undergraduate medical program and assists in one field program conducted by other departments. These programs are the:

  1. Community Residency Program (CRP)
  2. Organisation and Management of Health Services (OMHS)
  3. Continuing Family Case Studies (CFCS -conducted by Department of Primary Care Medicine)

The academic courses run by the department start in Phase 1 of the MBBS program and continues until Phase 3a. As for field programs, CFCS is carried out in all three phases. The CRP and OMHS are conducted at Phase 3A and 3B respectively.