Course Outline
The numbers of overseas visits made by UK residents has been increasing by 15% annually, reaching 60 million in 2006. With these rising numbers of people travelling to foreign destinations, good travel health provision is of the utmost importance and has made knowledge of Travel Medicine an essential part of UK medical practice. This course forms an introduction to Travel Medicine, concentrating on pragmatic focused issues in the field, and encompassing key components in the delivery of basic travel health provision.
The course initially explores areas such as requirements for operating a successful travel clinic, information sources for practitioners, and communications skills, and goes on to discuss vaccines and malaria, building upon academic knowledge in these subjects to explain current practices. Upon completion participants will have an up-to-date knowledge in travel health topics and the requirements for successful provision for based travellers.
This is a continuing professional development course, and is aimed at health professionals who wish to gain a working knowledge of travel health provision focused on the UK. It is also of value to anyone who wants to learn more about major aspects of travellers health .
The course is a self-directed multimedia e-learning course, and is delivered online via a web browser. The course contains web links to all references and material used, and prioritises their value. This means that you will have the flexibility to study where and when it's convenient to you. The course content is based on UK practice.
We strongly recommend completing this course as an introduction to the London-based course. A fee discount of £100 will be given to students registering on the Travel Medicine short course, who also register on the Travel Medicine online course beforehand.
Course Content
The course contains five modules:
- Introduction (Sources of Travel Health Information): describes the definition of travel health, its history and practice, undertaking a risk assessment and contains a comprehensive list of travel health information sources.
- Operating a Travel Clinic: investigates practical issues in managing a travel clinic and illustrates areas, such as documentation, responsibilities of the provider, liability issues, consent and the use of patient group directives.
Communication Skills: focuses on the travel health consultation and contains video based scenarios that explore best practice in the following areas:
o Improving travellers' understanding
o Travellers' recall of advice
o Travellers' goals and priorities,
o Travellers' health beliefs.- Vaccines: contains introductory topics in vaccine immunology and builds upon this knowledge by exploring vaccines and vaccine requirements, and indications for use and administration techniques.
Malaria: covers the information required by practitioners for successful travel health provision for malaria, which includes an extensive range of topics including life cycle, epidemiology of travellers malaria, prevention, and treatment.
Aims of the Course
By the end of this course learners will have an understanding of the practical requirements for effective travel health provision. In addition, learners will have a comprehensive knowledge of the relevant sources of travel health information needed for up-to-date travel health provision.
Teaching Methods & Course Materials
The course has been created by experts in Travel Medicine and Public Health at the LSHTM and other respected health education institutions. It is delivered via a web browser and requires a computer with an internet connection. All of the information sources are available via web links within the course.
It will take approximately 25-30 hours of learning to complete. However, some additional references and sources of travel medicine information are suggested within the course, and interested individuals who wish to follow-up on these sources may take longer to complete the material.
Assessment
There is no formal assessment criteria for this course, although each of the modules contains a multiple choice questions which will be used to evaluate your knowledge of each of the topics. Those completing the course will receive a completion certificate.
Who Should Apply?
The course is available to any health professional who wishes to gain a working knowledge of travel health and investigate current methods of practice. The course is also useful to anyone who has an interest in learning more about Travel Medicine.
Applicants do not need to have previous experience of the topic.
As the course is self-directed, motivated individuals who are able to manage their own time and learning effectively, will gain the greatest benefit from this course.
When to apply
You can apply for this course at any time.
Please return a completed application form along with an equal opportunities form to:
Registry, LSHTM, Keppel St, London WC1E 7HT, UK, Tel: +44 (0)20 7299 4648
Alternatively, by fax:
Fax: +44 (0)20 7299 4656
Or email: shortcourses@lshtm.ac.uk
