“Society, Systems and People” is the name of a new module in the Year 1 Medicine undergraduate course.
It includes three elements: ‘Family Case study’ (25%) led by Dr Dónal Wallace, Assistant Professor Public Health & Primary Care, ‘Behavioural Science’ (50%) led by Dr Simon McCarthy Jones, Associate Professor in Psychiatry, and ‘Health Policy’ (25%) led by Dr Sara Burke, assisted by Dr Carlos Bruen, Dr Charlotte Myers, and Professor Steve Thomas from the CHPM.
The ‘Health Policy’ element will introduce the students to concepts of population health, specifically, the social and commercial determinants of health will be explored, inequalities and how healthcare is accessed and provided. There is a built-in element of critical thinking and a requirement to question the system and structures delivering health care and the health policy making process including policy implementation and impacts across the life-course of the individual. Tutors are a mix of researchers from the Centre for Health Policy and Management and Specialist Registrars training in Public Health from the Dublin Midlands regions giving first year students good system and policy exposure.
The new curriculum can be found here: New Medicine Curriculum