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College of Medicine
Electives Manual
1998-99

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VII.   INTERDEPARTMENTAL COURSES & SEMINARS SECTION

MED 815A - Issues in Women's Health
Dr. Ana Maria Lopez & Faculty (626-2271)
4 weeks
Offered September - October
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
Maximum enrollment 4
This is a Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: Fourth year medical students only
 
Goals: To learn about the following elements of women's health:
1. Coronary Diseases 2. Osteoporosis 3. Cancer 4. Menopause 5. Contraception
6. Infertility 7. Sexually Transmitted Disease and 8. Clinical Trials.
In addition, an optional segment on pregnancy termination will be available. Clinical and seminar experiences will focus on psychosocial, cross-cultural, and communication issues as they pertain to women's health.
Format: A combination of didactic as well as clinic experiences, review readings, and small group discussions.
Evaluation Methods: Student participation in discussions. Direct clinical observations at clinical sites. A student presentation will be required.
 
 
MED 896A - Introduction to Forensic Pathology
Drs. Bruce Parks, Porterfield, Sibley, Birkby, & Local Attorneys (294-3846)
Offered in Period 4-A
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
2 credit hours
Meets Tuesday & Thursday, 1-3:15 PM
Maximum enrollment 8, minimum of 3
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: PATH 801
 
Goals: Forensic Pathology will emphasize the following:

Format: Lectures, demonstrations and audiovisual presentations. The student may participate in a medicolegal investigation and autopsy under supervision of the faculty. Opportunity, if available, to see the actual scene will be provided.
Evaluation Methods: Students will be evaluated on how well they achieve understanding and mastery of the stated goals. Quality of performance will be evaluated by the supervisory faculty. Students will also evaluate the course by questionnaire.

MED 896B - Physical & Biological Basis of Nuclear Medicine
Drs. Dennis Patton, Woolfenden, Barrett, Williams, Barber, Mr. Hall (Nuclear Medicine) & invited participants; Optical Sciences & Nuclear Engineering (626-7709)
Offered in Period 4-A
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
2 credit hours
Meets Monday & Wednesday, 1-3:15 PM
Maximum enrollment of 6
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: Fourth year medical students only

Goals:To give the student hands-on experience in the basic fundamentals of nuclear medicine procedures.
Format: Time will be assigned to clinic, laboratory, and student-faculty seminars. The student will carry out experiments showing the principles of radioactivity, radiation detection, tracer applications and imaging, and will relate them to clincal procedures. Students will participate in performing and interpreting clinical nuclear medicine procedures. Topics for the six weeks will be:

1. Basics of radioactivity and radiation detection.
2. The tracer principle and its applicaitons in medicine; basic principles of nuclear medicine studies.
3. Imaging in medicine; clinical assignments.

Evaluation methods: The quality of the student's participation in and preparation for clinical procedures, demonstrations, discussions and seminars will be the guide for faculty evaluation.
 
MED 596D/896D - Medicine and Literature: The Human Perspective
Drs. Joseph Alpert & Helle Mathiasen
Offered in Period 4-A
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
2 credit hours
Offered Tuesday & Thursday, 4:15-6:15 PM
Maximum enrollment of 25, minimum of 6
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: None

Goals: This multidisciplinary course examines modern world literature in light of scientific and human values relating to medical ethics, disease, suffering, death, and healing.
Format: A bi-weekly two hour seminar. A one page paper on a specific topic is required each week. No examination.
Evaluation methods:

1. Quality of seminar participation.
2. Quality of one page papers.
 

MED 896F - Epidemiologic Investigations of Infectious Diseases
Drs. Eskild Petersen, Lebowitz & Faculty
Offered in Period 4-A
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
2 credit hours
Offered Monday, 3:30-5 PM, & Wednesday, 3-4:30 PM
Maximum enrollment of 30, minimum of 3
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: None

Goals: To train the students to understand the epidemiology of infectious diseases and in investigations necessitated by these diseases, including: 1) epidemics, short and long term (outbreak investigations); 2) endemics, especially for diseases with high prevalences, including long-term epidemicity, community surveillance;, 3) prevalence and incidence assessment (surveys); 4) vaccine, prophylactic, and therapeutic trials (the latter include study design and analysis features); and 5) new and emergent infectious diseases.
Format: Lectures, discussions, and student presentations.
Evaluation methods: Grading will be based on the three assignments, and a short paper will be required by the end of the course, nature and topics to be discussed.

MED 896H- Gene Therapy for Vascular Disease

Dr. Ronald L. Heimark & Surgery Faculty
Offered in Period 4-A
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
2 credit hours
Offered Monday & Wednesday, 1-3 PM
Maximum enrollment of 20, minimum of 3
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: Open to third and fourth-year students

Goals: To become familiar with the range of applications of gene therapy to vascular disease. This six week lecture/discussion course is designed to provide the student with a fundamental appreciation for the application of molecular biology to intervention in cardiovascular diseases.
Format: The course will consist of lectures, readings, and discussions. The students will utilize selected readings from the instructor. Each one hour period will cover a specific topic and, once a week, there will be a one hour discussion on a particular topic for that week. The discussion will address new developmental therapeutic approaches to a variety of diverse conditions including atherosclerosis, vasculitis, and restenosis after balloon angioplasty.
The topics will be:
1. Methods of gene transfer and safety issues
2. Mechanisms of vascular disease
3. Gene therapy for restenosis
4. Gene therapy for atherosclerosis
5. Modification of vascular grafts
6. Control of angiogenesis
Evaluation methods: Students will be evaluated weekly by their preparation for the discussion and their participation. Students will also be required to select a specific topic, review recent literature in an area and present a discussion on a specific therapeutic approach for cardiovascular disease.
 
MED 896J Medical Jurisprudence
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
2 credit hours
Offered Tuesday & Thursday, 10-12:15 PM
Maximum enrollment of 20, minimum of 5
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: Medical students only

Goals: To acquire, through readings, lecture and discussion, an understanding of basic legal concepts, both substantive and procedural, affecting the legal rights and liabilities of hospitals, physicians (primarily) and other medical personnel. To acquire, as above, understanding of basic legal rules relating to certain specific areas, including vicarious liability; informed consent; emergency care; Good Samaritan statutes; treatment of minors and child abuse; refusal or discontinuation of "extraordinary" care and "death"; autopsy; expert testimony; physician-patient relationship, reports, records and confidentiality; hospital liability; medical equipment failures; staff privileges; standard of care; res ipsa loquitur; breach of statutory duty; rights of the mentally ill to and against treatment; malpractice control systems and insurance; release and waiver forms. To acquire, as above, understanding of the fact finder's or decision maker's influence on the interpretation of often uncertain and flexible legal rules; the possible disparity between theory and practice; the possible difference between legal and moral duties.
Format: A six-week elective seminar. Students are assigned readings, including applicable cases and statutes, concerning the various topics covered. The basic concepts and rules in each area are explained in an introductory lecture which is followed by Socratic discussion of the assigned materials. The discussion is designed to equip the student to apply general, basic concepts to novel situations which might occur in his/her present or future medical pursuits and to enable the student to understand and conform to the basic policies informing specific rules governing commonly encountered problems.
Evaluation methods: Evaluation is based upon understanding of assigned readings in the text as demonstrated in class discussions and in a written examination requiring the solution of hypothetical medicolegal problems.  

MED 896K - Topics in Surgery and Medicine
Drs. Allan Hamilton & Joseph Alpert
Offered Aug 11, 1997-Nov 17, 1997 & Jan 12, 1998-April 20, 1998
(holiday 1/19 and spring break 3/14 - 3/22, no class)
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
1-2 credit hours
Offered Mondays, 3-5 PM
No maximum or minimum enrollment
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: Year IV medical students only

Goals:

  1. Students will examine a number of topics in medicine and surgery that relate to intensive care medicine, in-patient medicine and serious medical and surgical illnesses.
  2. Students will learn how to deal with seriously ill patients and rapidly evolving situations.
  3. Topics will include the diagnosis and management of specific disease processes such as: cardiac, pulmonary, renal, infectious, GI, endocrine, hemotologic and neurologic as well as drug overdoses, shock and traauma, transplantation and nutritional topics.

Format: Two-hour long interactive seminar-type discussions facilitated by faculty in Surgery and Medicine once a week. There will be assigned reading material each week as well as the seminar-type discussions. Participation is the key to success of this program.
Evaluation methods: Participation in seminar discussions every week. Faculty will evaluate the degree of student participation and level of contribution to seminar discussions.

MED 596M/896M - Mind-Body and Behavioral Health
Dr. Paul Skinner
Offered in Period 4-A
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
2 credit hours
Offered in 2 hour sessions, day and time to be negotiated with instructor
Maximum enrollment of 8, minimum of 2
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: None

Goals: To develop basic comprehension and skills regarding the principles and practices of mind-body, lifestyle and health-risk factors, and behavioral health. Lifestyle factors are now widely recognized as the major underlying causes of morbidity and mortality, and thus intervention in this general area is fundamental topreventative and restorative health care.
Format:
Unit I. Self-Empowerment and Healing
Unit II. Conflict, Guilt, and Stress
Unit III. Coping
Unit IV. Conditioned Learning and Conditional-Mind
Unit V. Unconditioned Learning and Unconditional-Mind
Unit VI. Critical Thinking and Decision Making
Unit VII. Motivation and Behavior: Life-style and Health Risk Factors
(compulsive, addictive, abusive behaviors)
Unit VIII. Relationships, Dependency, Anti-Personal/Anti-Social Behaviors
Unit IX. Self-Awareness and Communication Processes
Unit X. Mind-Body and Behavioral Health
Unit XI. The Mind, Awareness and Healing
Unit XII. Health and Quality of Life
* Based on a text entitled: Healing the Self
Author: Paul Skinner, Ph.D.
Students can select a minimum of any three consecutive topics from among four such options, and can persue a maximum of twleve topics, as indicated above. Each option of three topics will be presented in a progressive sequence in respective seminars. Students will evaluate topic principles, complete related thought experiments, and processes during class sessions for each topic, and these activities will be used as a basis for discussion and interaction to make the seminars experiential. Evaluation methods: The principles, thought experiments, and processes will be critiqued and discussed, and students will also complete a very brief evaluation form during the class at the end of each topic. Students will be encouraged to form and to express their own conclusions. Student grades in the course will be based on attendance and participation in all seminar activities.  

MED 596Q/896Q - Seminars in Space Biology
Drs. Mark L. Witten, Sridhar, & Tipton
Offered in Period 4-A
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
1 credit hour
Offered Wednesdays, 4-5 PM
Maximum enrollment of 10, minimum of 3
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: Medical Physiology

Goals: Space biology is an emerging field of study. The life sciences will be one of the major areas of emphasis on the Space Station. Consequently, we believe that it is important to give future physicians some background on the emerging field of research, space biology.
Format: Short lecture (30 minutes) followed by a 30 minute discussion of a recently published article in the field of space biology.
Evaluation methods: Short, five-page paper on space biology.
 
MED 896S - Salt, Water & Kidney Disorders
Drs. Howard Lien, VanWyck, Katz, Michael, Logan, Huo, James & Yorgin
Offered in Period 4-A
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
2 credit hours
Offered Monday & Friday, 2:30-4:30 PM
Maximum enrollment of 20, minimum of 3
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: Medical students only; completion of basic clerkships in medicine and surgery

Goals: This course is designed to teach the student through informal discussions and the Socratic method the basic mechanisms of fluid and electrolyte homeostasis in health and disease and to introduce them to transplant nephrology.
Format: Topics:

1. Salt and Water Homeostasis
2. Hypo- and Hyperkalemia
3. Acid Base Homeostasis
4. Acute Renal Failure
5. Chronic Renal Failure
6. Evaluation of Hematuria and Proteinuria
7. Cystic Kidney Disease
8. Diuretics in the Management of Fluid Retention
9. Dialysis Modalities
10. Transplant Immunology
11. Transplant Nephrology
12. Brief Case Problems with Faculty Presentation and Student Discussion "Flea Circus"

Each topic will be the subject of a two-hour seminar with all students and one or more faculty members. The students will be expected to do some announced preparatory reading on the topics. The instructor will discuss the topic informally for about one hour leaving second hour for an intensive question and answer period with vigorous open discussion. At the end of the second hour the instructor will summarize the key points.
Evaluation methods: Students will be evaluated on the basis of their apparent preparation for the sessions as evidenced by their participation in discussions at the sessions. Attendance will also be recorded and used in evaluation.  

MED 696U/896U - Cardiovascular Pathophysiology
Dr. Paul McDonagh and Faculty from the Departments of Surgery and Medicine
Offered in Period 4-A
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
2 credit hours
Offered Tuesday & Thursday, 1-3 PM
Maximum enrollment of 20, Minimum of 6
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: Open to third and fourth-year medical students

Goals: This six-week seminar course is designed to help medical students form a solid foundation of knowledge of diseases of the heart and circulation.
Format: The course will consist of lectures, readings, case presentations and demonstrations. The students will utilize Pathophysiology of Heart Disease by Leonard Lilly M.D. as a primary source as well as selected readings from the instructors. Each two-hour seminar period will cover a specific topic. Included in each period will be a review of the underlying pathobiology and pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, special diagnostic techniques, pharmacologic and, when appropriate, surgical management of the cardiovascular disorder under discussion.
The topics will be:

1. Review of Cardiovascular Structure and Function.
2. Heart Sounds, Murmurs and Physical Diagnosis.
3. Diagnostic Cardiovascular Imaging.
4. Atherosclerosis.
5. Hypertension.
6. Ischemic Heart Disease.
7. Myocardial Infarction.
8. Heart Failure.
9. Peripheral Arterial Disease.
10. Peripheral Venous Disease.
11. Cardiovascular Pharmaceuticals.
12. Cardiothoracic Surgery and Transplantation.

Evaluation methods: Students will be evaluated weekly by their demonstrated preparation for each seminar and by active participation in discussions. Students will also be required to select a specific topic, review recent literature in that area and write a report on "Current Concepts in the Etiology and Management of ................".
*Crosslisted with MEDI 696U/896U, PSIO 696U/896U and SURG 696U/896U
 
MED 899A - Independent Study (Alternative Medicine)
Dr. Andrew Weil (Patty Popp, 626-5077)
This course is directly supervised by UA Program in Integrative Medicine Fellows and Faculty
Maximum enrollment of 2-4
This is a Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: Prior approval of instructor is MANDATORY; completion of all required clerkships; times must be arranged in advance with instructor

Goals: To become familiar with the range of available alternatives to allopathic medicine, to be able to evaluate these systems of treatment critically, and to learn whether any elements of them may complement orthodox approaches.
Format: The student will spend half the time in the Integrative Medicine Clinic with a fellow and attending physician observing patients and recommending treatments. In the other half of the rotation, students will be placed with alternative practitioners in southern Arizona (osteopaths, naturopaths, homeopaths, body workers, etc.) to observe their techniques. They will also be directed to readings about these systems. This will give the student a broad exposure to the integration of allopathic and alternative modalities in very different settings.
Evaluation methods: Students will be evaluated by the course director on the basis of their ability to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the systems of treatment they observe.  

MED 899D -Basic Science Review for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1
Drs. Christopher A. Leadem (520-621-6216) & Jill L. Keller
Offered each year, August-September and May-June
This course is directly supervised by UA College of Medicine faculty.
4-6 credit hours
Offered Monday-Friday, 8:30 - 9:30AM
Maximum enrollment of 12; minimum of 1
This is a Non-Patient Care elective.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Year II; permission of both faculty; recommendation of the Student Progress Committee; and below-passing score in the USMLE Step 1

Goals:

Format: This elective uses small group and guided independent study activities to help students review and apply basic science concepts that are tested on the USMLE Step 1. Students and faculty will meet daily Monday through Friday. These sessions will focus on test-taking skills, time and stress management, Step 1 information, and assessment of study progress. During other sessions, students will work in small groups in order to test each other and integrate basic science concepts and patient based scenarios using Step 1 items. Students will study independently and meet with faculty as needed. The basic science or clinical faculty will make short presentations of specific basic science or clinical topics as requested by students.
Evaluation methods: Criteria for a "pass":

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