Handbook

The two courses, Health Maintenance A & B are complementary vertically integrated components in phase 1 of the Medicine program. The following description refers to the areas of study students will encounter during both courses. Depending upon the year of enrolment, the exact content allocated to either component will vary.

Objectives: - To gain an understanding of the internal and external mechanisms that maintain a state of health, primarily in adults. The key themes to be studied are homeostasis, sustenance and equilibrium; education, health promotion and disease prevention; host defence; and lifestyle factors that risk health.

In one of the two years, these themes will be explored by a detailed study of the cardiovascular system, including its key role in maintaining internal bodily health, mechanisms leading to cardiovascular disease including relevant lifestyle factors, and basic pharmacological principles, using drugs acting on the cardiovascular system as an example. Additional topic areas will include mechanisms that maintain body temperature, fundamentals of host defence, and physical and psychological responses to stress. Learning of clinical skills will focus on examination of the cardiovascular system and on health promotion. In the other year, the themes will be illustrated by study of digestion, metabolism and excretion, including problems of overnutrition and diabetes. Other topic areas are hepatobiliary structure and function, and its disorders, the renal system, the pharmacology of drug metabolism, and the consequences of failure of these vital organs. Clinical skills will focus on examination of the gastrointestinal and urinary systems.

A series of learning activities focusing on communication skills and clinical communication operates throughout phase 1 of the Medicine program. It involves learning within clinical environments and will be integrated with content topics specific to individual courses.

Assessment will involve performance in two projects/assignments and an end of course written examination.