SCHOOL OF 2012-2013 - St. George's University

School of Medicine
Course Descriptions
diagnosis and genetic screening. The course concludes with
introductions to growth points in modern genetics, cancer
genetics, gene therapy, and the Human Genome Project.
Bioethics
Cheryl Macpherson, PhD, Chair
SGU’s Department of Bioethics is charged with centralizing
and strengthening training in ethical and professional
thought and action. This department offers programs and
courses to stimulate critical thinking and ethical discourse
across disciplines, facilitate academic exchange, and
contribute to professional development of students, faculty,
visiting scholars, and Caribbean health professionals. The
department serves the wider Caribbean community by
providing a home for the Secretariat of the Bioethics Society
of the English-speaking Caribbean (BSEC). It contributes to
the White Coat Ceremony and is the base for SGUSOM’s
Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS). It
serves and supports SGU’s IRB and runs an active Bioethics
Grand Rounds seminar series.
BIOE 501
Bioethics and the Professional: Medicine in Society I
This course aims to strengthen students’ ability to
recognize and critically analyze ethical concerns in
medical situations. It provides opportunities to develop
professional competencies and skills. Students will begin to
access credible information (medical informatics), formulate
and express reasoned opinions, manage uncertainty, and
communicate collegialy.
Bioethics is a discipline grounded in the reasoning and
objectivity necessary to beneficial health outcomes and
patient satisfaction. It provides structure and tools with
which to address the numerous moral conflicts in medicine.
Bioethical concepts and terminology introduced in the
course center on professionalism, principles, and theories,
which are applied to vignettes and current dilemmas facing
medicine today. Interactive participation occurs through
group discussions, online activities, and during lectures.
The course encourages students to monitor their own
professional development. It is anticipated that passing this
course will motivate and enable students to reflect on their
own professional competencies and duties as these evolve
during different stages of their medical education.
Clinical Skills
Winston Mitchell, MBBS, FACS, Chair
CLSK 653
Communication Skills and Physical Diagnosis
This course instructs students in communication skills that
they will need as medical students and physicians in order
to relate to senior physicians, colleagues, patients and their
families, and other health care professionals. The course
prepares students for their role in addressing the common
problems found in delivering health care, for example,
providing health care instruction and delivering “bad news.”
Students will develop both oral and written communication
skills and learn the components of the standard history and
the art of presenting cases. The physical diagnosis portion
builds on the clinical skills learned in the first year of the
four-year MD program. The course uses both lectures and
laboratory sessions to teach physical examination skills. The
laboratory groups consist of small groups of students. The
techniques of physical examination are taught by videotape
demonstration, live demonstration, and supervised
practice on fellow students.
CLSK 655
Introduction to Clinical Medicine
This course teaches students in small groups at the
hospital or an outpatient setting, as well as on campus
using volunteer patients. The overall objective of the
Introduction to Clinical Medicine course is to ensure
that students understand the process of taking histories,
conducting physical examinations on patients, and
organizing their findings into a written or oral presentation.
Students should develop sufficient interpersonal and
clinical skills in this course in order to integrate rapidly into
the clinical hospital setting when they start their clinical
terms. This course requires students to develop clinical
thought processes leading to the art and science of
problem solving in clinical medicine.
Microbiology
David Lennon, PhD, Chair
MICR 570
Medical Microbiology
Medical microbiology is offered as a balanced combination
of formal classroom instruction, practical laboratory
experience and current literature review. Students are
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