Medical Sciences - University of the West Indies

FACULTY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
EPID6104 Critical Evaluation of the Medial
Literature and Writing Scientific
Manuscripts
This module aims to describe and illustrate the
methods available for identifying and reviewing
quantitative and qualitative literature. This will provide
students with a perspective on the development
and uses of epidemiology through discussion of key
epidemiological papers. The student should develop
the skills to find, interpret and criticize information
in the epidemiological literature and the competence
to write scientific manuscripts in accordance with
the requirements of journals and other publications.
Content areas include planning the review: the role
of the literature review and specification of the task,
identification of relevant literature both published
and unpublished: developing a search strategy and
using bibliographic databases, appraising the literature:
methods for assessing the quality of quantitative
and qualitative research, synthesizing the evidence:
integration of the evidence using both quantitative
and qualitative methods; principles of meta-analysis,
formulating recommendations and writing reviews.
EPID6105 Research Ethics
The aim of this module is for students to develop an
awareness and knowledge of the ethical principles
which guide researchers, especially those studying
human subjects.
Content areas include historical events that have influenced
current ethical guidelines, the fundamental
ethical principles that guide the ethical conduct of
research involving human participants, International
guidelines in the protection of human participants,
the responsibilities of organizations or individuals in
protecting human participants, maintaining confidentiality
throughout the research process, the informed
consent process and vulnerable populations, the
role of regulatory bodies and institutions in maintaining
ethical standards, Research Ethics in the Caribbean.
EPID6106 Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases and
HIV/AIDS
The aim of this module is to provide a multidisci-
plinary framework for understanding the principles of
interventions against infectious diseases. It provides
perspectives on the epidemiology of communicable
diseases: basic concepts and methods; epidemiological
aspects of vaccination; surveillance and outbreak
investigation; and detailed discussion of the
epidemiology of important representative infectious
diseases.
It also provides students with an understanding of
the control of communicable diseases in countries
with a developed public health infrastructure. Special
emphasis will be placed on HIV/AIDS as one of
the threats to health in the Caribbean. Content areas
include Principles of infectious disease (ID) epidemiology,
principles of surveillance, epidemiological
methods I: Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS),
Infectious Disease Outbreak investigation and selection
of appropriate comparison groups and logistical
issues; mathematical models for ID; New vaccines:
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