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Health Protection

Module description

Health Protection has received an increased profile in recent years often needing to be dynamic and responsive to the evolving health needs of the population.  It is a versatile field of study and practice which brings together specialist knowledge and skills from a broad range of specialities and disciplines team including PHE, environmental health departments, hospital microbiologists and infection and prevention control teams, GPs, community specialists and educational institutions. Their collective aim is to prevent and reduce the impact of infectious diseases, hazards, and major emergencies. They achieve this through the surveillance and monitoring of infectious diseases, strategic health protection work, emergency planning and operational support which includes education and training.

In this module you can expect to explore the core principles of health protection and how to apply them in a practical setting with the aim of laying, or building upon, a solid foundation of specialist knowledge and skill. Teaching and learning will be a two way process, in which we will learn from each other and through this group participation we will strive to make your learning both more productive enjoyable. The course tutor will bring current, emerging and important health protection issues to the course as a hot topic, as it is these topics, discussed in real time, that will significantly enhance the learning and understanding of how we manage such events and incidents in real time.

The course content will serve as a refresher as well as a primer for new practitioners; it is useful at all levels (Consultant to Health Protection Practitioners).

This module is delivered by distance learning via our online platform. Teaching will draw on a range of high-quality recorded lectures, interspersed with consolidation sessions, workshops and group work. Synchronous sessions will be held via Teams or Zoom.

Module aims - intentions of the module

At the end of the course  you will be expected to be able to:

• Understand the underlying principles of Health Protection and Communicable Disease Control as well as planning for and responding to emerging threats, emerging infections and environmental incidents.
• Understand the principles of immunisation, surveillance and emergency planning
• Learn how to apply knowledge and science to work out course of actions for health emergencies.
• Understand the importance of collaboration with partners and communicating risks.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Critically appraise and demonstrate the ability to apply the key principles and concepts of health protection and Communicable Disease Control
• 2. Analyse and critique the use and of immunisation, surveillance and emergency planning in Public Health Practice

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Articulate contemporary debates around planning for and responding to emerging threats, infectious outbreaks and environmental incidents.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate a professional ability to present a balanced and evidence-based stance in optimising a response to health emergencies.
• 5. Work collaboratively with partners enabling empowerment delegation supporting a shared understanding and communication of risk.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, an example of an overall structure is as follows:

• Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases. Their mode of transmission, infectiousness and control strategies. 
• The science behind vaccine preventable diseases. Why immunization works and saves lives.           
• The art and science of infection prevention and control
• Data collection and timely actions; Principles of surveillance Global Health and current advances in HIV, control and management
• Emerging Infections, zoonosis and the interplay between animals and humans
• Legionella: Epidemiology, medicolegal issues, discussion workshop
• Outbreaks: Art and craft of outbreak management
• Outbreak management
• Introduction to health emergency planning
• Common Infectious diseases and their public health actions. 
• Hepatitis/Management/Epidemiology/Prevention
• Collaboration with partners and communicating risk 
• Global Health, Global Warming, Planetary Health
• Epidemics and Pandemics
• Tuberculosis as a marker for global health, advances in its control and screening. 

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Please refer to the TQA section on Referral/Deferral: http://as.exeter.ac.uk/academic-policy-standards/tqa-manual/aph/consequenceoffailure/

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=6036

The PHE website (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england)

The UK Government website https://www.gov.uk/topic/health-protection

The Welsh devolved administration website https://phw.nhs.wales/

The Scottish devolved administration website https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/

The Faculty of Public Health website https://www.fph.org.uk/

The WHO website (http://www.who.int/)

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/home)

Centers for Disease Control (https://www.cdc.gov/)

The Green Book (www.dh.gov.uk/greenbook)

Key words search

Human health, environment, health, public health, global health, environmental change, one health, policy.