HMM4401 - Health and medicine
Course content
- The human body’s structure, physiology and function are mainly presented through a selection of common and chronic diseases and disabilities like cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the lung, cancer, infections, psychiatric disorders, muscle-skeleton pain and diabetes. Medical nomenclature will be presented together with the various diseases.
- The concept of disease, criteria for disease and various classification systems for diseases, disability and procedures
- Medical decisions, uncertainty in medicine, and evaluation of risk
- Description of the health situation in Norway and globally with emphasis upon determinants of health and inequality in health
- Development of medical technology and demand for health care related to this development are briefly presented
- Ethical dilemmas in decisions and priority-setting within the health service sector
Learning outcome
This is an introductory course required for master students without a BA in health management and health economics or studies within medicine or health sciences. At the end of the course the students will be familiar with basic concepts and mechanisms related to health and disease, how health and disease are defined and classified, how medical technology develops and spreads, and they will become acquainted with basic thinking in medical decisions. They will also be exposed to various ways to describe the health situation in populations. Finally they will be introduced to the demand for health care and ethical dilemmas involved in decisions related to health and disease.
Admission
Students at UiO must apply for courses in StudentWeb.
International applicants, if you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures for international applicants.
Id does not exist in shared textPrerequisites
Formal prerequisite knowledge
Id does not exist in shared textNone
Teaching
Lectures, group work and self study, inclusive use of www-based tools, demonstration and visits to medical departments.
Access to teaching
Id does not exist in shared textExamination
- Mid term paper
- Written exam
The term paper counts 1/3 and the written exam 2/3 of the final grade.
Examination support material
Id does not exist in shared textApproved calculator: Citizen SR-270X
No other resources are allowed.
Language of examination
Id does not exist in shared textAll written exams and term papers at the master's programme in Health Economics, Policy and Management have to be conducted in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
Explanations and appeals
You may request an explanation of your grades, and you may also appeal against your grades or make a complaint about formal examination errors. Read more about explanations and appeals.
Resit an examination
You can usually resit an exam, but the conditions depend on whether you had a valid reason for absence from the regular exam. Read more about resitting an exam.
Withdrawal from an examination
A student may sit this exam up to 3 times. If a student wishes to withdraw from the exam, s/he must do so in StudentWeb at least two weeks prior to the first day of the exam. Failure to do so will be counted as one of the three opportunities to sit the exam.
Special examination arrangements
If you have a disability or a health problem that entails significant inconvenience in an examination situation, you may be considered for special examination arrangements. Mothers who are breastfeeding may apply for extra time to complete the exam.
Evaluation
Feedback from our students is essential to us in our efforts to ensure and further improve the high quality of our programmes and courses. All courses are subject to continuous evaluation. At regular intervals we also ask students on a particular course to participate in a more comprehensive, periodic evaluation of this course.