Health Sciences

This is a survey course introducing students to a wide variety of professions within the health sciences field. Guest speakers will present information regarding their role in the health care system, educational and professional licensure requirements, professional practice settings, professional associations and other related information. This course is delivered in a seminar format with potential guest speakers in the areas of physical and occupational therapy, counseling, medicine, health administration, health education, nursing, nutrition, pharmacy, nuclear medicine, speech pathology, complementary medicine and other professions based on speaker availability. Restricted to HSC majors or by permission of the Health Sciences Program Director.

This course explores the powerful influence a wide variety of cultural characteristics can have on the health and wellness of individuals, families, groups and communities.   Students build cultural competence by developing self-awareness, identifying biases and examining health-related values, beliefs and behaviors.  Determinants for physical, social, emotional, cognitive, spiritual and occupational health are analyzed along with a variety of obstacles that can affect the quality of healthcare, challenge therapeutic relationships and increase risk for illness, activity limitations, participation restrictions and health disparities.

This course will provide the student with an overview of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), its history, philosophies, and techniques. Over the course of the semester students will explore alternative medical systems, mind-body treatments, biologically based interventions, manipulative and body-based methods, and energy therapies. Students will learn to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of these modalities using peer-reviewed research. [Advising note: Prior to 2017 this course has been offered as HSC 410: Complementary Health Care.]

What defines personal health and wellness? This course will explore the multi-faceted components of health and wellness: physical, intellectual, spiritual, social, emotional and occupational; and examine how each contributes to the development and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. Students will examine their current lifestyle choices and assess the impact, both present and future, these choices have on their health and wellness. Current health issues affecting today's society and educational programs promoting health and wellness will also be included. Restricted to HSC majors or by permission of the Health Sciences Program Director. Note: Students may not receive credit for both HSC 215 and PED 225.

The focus of this course to enhance students' critical thinking abilities within a pharmacological framework. Students explore the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics properties of common drug classifications and their prototypes (subtypes as indicated) within a physiological and pathophysiological base. References to chemistry and microbiology are made for specific classifications. Theory and trends relevant to socioeconomic concerns, cultural diversity, legal issues, and physiological age related changes are integrated within the pharmacological principals.

This course explores the intersections between biology and culture, and how such bio-cultural interactions influence health and disease at the individual and population levels. Students will examine the meanings and distributions of health and illness in cross-cultural perspective. The causes of health and ill-health will be considered at the individual, community, and global levels. Students build cultural competence by identifying their own biases and health-related values, beliefs and behaviors. Restricted to HSC and PBH majors with junior status or by permission of the Health Sciences Program Director. Advising Note: This course was formerly offered as HSC 206.

To be arranged with the Health Sciences Program Director.

This course presents a variety of educational methods to promote health related changes in people across the lifespan through the process of community health education. Content includes information on culturally competent health education, theories related to learning and health behavior change, the health communication process, and interactive teaching strategies to increase memory retention and facilitate real world application of what is learned. Students have the opportunity to experience, apply and practice concepts and methods learned throughout the course as they participate in class activities and develop and implement a community health education project which includes but is not limited to: formative research; problem identification; audience segmentation; a comprehensive educational plan with quality learning objectives, appropriate instructional strategies, and outcome measures; and evidence of marketing efforts.

Across time individuals have always pursued healing techniques that were not considered part of mainstream medicine. People have become increasingly cynical and distrustful of Western, technological, medicine. They are looking for a health care approach that treats the whole body, as opposed to the fragmentation that's inherent in western medicine. Many of these alternative approaches, however, are not new. They are modern applications of, or borrowings from, indigenous medical systems, folk medical, Asia medical systems, etc. These approaches are grounded in the mind-body nature of disease, illness, and health. This course will provide the student with an overview of alternative medicine, complimentary, integrative health care, its history, philosophies, and techniques. The course format will be one of lecture, demonstration, and laboratory experiences. This course is restricted to Health Sciences majors only or non-majors may request permission from the Health Sciences Program Coordinator to enroll. [Advising note: Beginning in 2017 this course will be listed as HSC 210 Complementary and Alternative Medicine.]

This course presents a comprehensive overview of the physical, physiological and metabolic responses of the human body to exercise testing and training in both health and disease. The successful student will gain an understanding of the processes involved in prescribing safe and effective therapeutic exercise in healthy individuals as well as patients with heart and lung disease, diabetes and obesity. The laboratory component will include instruction of clinical exercise testing. Restricted to HSC majors or by permission of the Health Sciences Program Director.

Over the course of the semester students will be guided through the process of using research to identify and address contemporary issues in the health sciences. Through close readings and group discussion, Health Sciences majors will learn to pose important questions, conduct comprehensive literature reviews, develop testable hypotheses, identify appropriate variables, and draft professional research proposals to be presented in class. Those who excel in this course may be offered the opportunity to further develop their research the following semester. Restricted to junior/senior HSC majors or by permission of the Health Sciences Program Director.