Title:	Medical Priorities & Clinical Tropical Medicine in South East Asia (not running in 2020) tbc
Keywords:	Tropical medicine Non-communicable diseases Disease vectors Disease prevention, control and elimination Communicable diseases
Country:	Switzerland
Institution:	Switzerland - Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute, Basel
Course coordinator:	Dr. Andreas Neumayr
About duration and dates:	2 weeks course and individual preparation for case presentation. No pre-reading requirements however participants are asked to prepare two case studies before the start of the course.
Classification:	advanced optional
Mode of delivery:	Field trip Face to face
Course location: Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Lao PDR: The course is based at the Mahosot Hospital (the primary government hospital and main internal medicine hospital of the country) where all lectures will take place and the main clinical part of the course (teaching ward rounds) will be held at different departments. Additional teaching ward rounds will be held at the other two major hospitals of Vientiane (Setthathirath Hospital and Mittaphab Hospital).
ECTS credit points:	3.5 ECTS credits
SIT: 30 hours lectures, 20 hours bed-side teaching, 2.5 hours ultrasound practice, 4 hours laboratory practice,3 hours case presentations, 9.5 hours field survey and 36 hours individual work, total 105 hours student investment time (this includes the preparation for the case presentation)
Language:	English
Description: At the end of the module the students should be able to: • specify the medical priorities in South East Asia • appraise and analyse the local pattern of diseases in their environmental, epidemiological, and sociocultural context • critically compare on their own knowledge and skills in diagnosis and treatment of endemic tropical diseases in South East Asia • practice and interpret basic laboratory diagnostic methods of parasitic diseases and ultra-sound in the field
Assessment Procedures: Individual case presentation counting 30% to the overall mark and a one hour multiple choice test (where a minimum score of 60% is required) at the end of the course counting 70% to the overall mark. If a student should fail any of the components they are allowed to resit the assessment once.
Content: • The differential diagnosis of fever • Malaria – clinic & diagnostics • Malaria drug resistance in South East Asia • HIV and opportunistic infections in South East Asia • HIV/AIDS practical essentials • Tuberculosis in Laos • Rickettisial diseases in South East Asia • Dengue – clinic & diagnostics • Japanese encephalitis and differential diagnosis of viral encephalitis • Melioidosis – diagnosis & treatment • Leptospirosis – clinic & diagnostics • Rational empiric antibiotic treatment • Schistosomiasis – clinic & diagnsotics • Paediatric infectious diseases in South East Asia • Dermatological problems (including leprosy and STDs) in South East Asia • Beriberi, Noma and other NTDs in SEA • Overview on non-communicable diseases in Laos • Food and soil transmitted parasites in South East Asia • Public Health perspectives in South East Asia • Poor quality medicines (fake and substandard drugs) • Neglected diseases of South East Asia: Beriberi & Pellagra • Introduction to medical ultrasound/sonography • Ultrasound/sonography assessment of focal liver lesions • Ultrasound/sonography in parasitic diseases • Ultrasound/sonography in HIV & Tb • Echocardiography in the topics
Methods: (I) Lectures: • covering and discussing the most prominent and relevant medical issues in South East Asia in a comprehensive and practical way • outlining the value and practical application of ultrasound/ sonography in infectious diseases / tropical medicine (II) Practical part: Teaching ward rounds / bed-side teaching: • direct exposure of the course participants to clinical cases • bed-side discussion of differential diagnosis, diagnostic work-up and treatment Bed-side ultrasound/sonography practice: • acquiring hands-on experience with bed-side ultrasound/ sonography The practical laboratory training part of the course will be held at the Institute Pasteur in Vientiane. The field survey will be held in a rural setting/village 20km outside of Vientiane. Laboratory practice: • acquiring practical experience in microscopic diagnosis of blood-borne and intestinal parasitic diseases Field survey: Screening of a rural community in Laos by blood- and stool-microscopy and mobile ultrasound/ sonography (III) Case presentation: Clinical case presentations (by the course participants and facilitators) each course participant will present 2 linical cases (as `unknown diagnosis´) from his/her past medical work which will then be discussed among the participants and facilitators.
Prerequisites: Course participants are supposed to hold a medical degree plus either (a) hold Diploma in Tropical Medicine (DTM&H or equivalent) or (b) have 1 year cumulative working experience in a resource poor setting with tropical and parasitic diseases constitute the majority of the clinical workload or (c) are specialized in Infectious Diseases or Clinical Microbiology. Each participant is asked to contribute two clinical case presentations of his/ her own working place to be presented and discussed during the course. English requirements: TOEFL paper 550 / computer 213 / internet 79 – 80 or IELTS 6.0 or native speaker or completed higher education in English (with written proof)
Attendance: Max. 25 students
Selection: First come, first serve
Fees: 3250 CHF, tropEd students CHF 2990
Scholarships: None.
Major changes since initial accreditation: In agreement with the two major critic points listed under ‘24. Student evaluations’ below, the course has been (1) shortened from previously 3 weeks to now 2 weeks and (2) the content of the course has been revised according to the feedback of the participant. In this regard the suggested reduction of the lectures on “non-communicable” diseases facilitated shortening the course without constraints. The only other adjustment/change made to the course outline was (3) to include the dermatological clinic as additional department for ward-rounds to extend the clinical spectrum.
Student evaluation: The feedback of the previous course has been very positive with only two criticised points which however, were addressed by several course participants: (1) the course duration of three weeks was judged too long, as most participants are full-time employed and getting three weeks leave of absence granted from work was difficult. The suggestion was to shorten the course to two weeks. (2) the lectures on “non-communicable” diseases in Laos given by Laotian colleagues were rated low as the currently available evidence and data on these topics remain rather scarce.
tropEd accreditation: Accredited in October 2015. Re-accredited in October 2017. This accreditation is valid until October 2022. Reason for re-accreditation is to shorten the course from 3 to 2 weeks.
Email Address:	courses@swisstph.ch
Date Of Record Creation:	2015-10-11 05:47:39 (W3C-DTF)
Date Of Record Release:	2015-10-11 09:57:23 (W3C-DTF)
Date Record Checked:	2017-10-09 (W3C-DTF)
Date Last Modified:	2021-11-21 18:58:44 (W3C-DTF)