School for Health, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
FH50015 Clinical Practice |
| Credits: 12 |
| Level: Masters |
| Modular: no specific semester |
| Assessment: CW ES |
| Requisites: |
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Aims & Learning Objectives: To understand and assess common rheumatic disorders with an appropriate history, examination and investigation in order to form a working diagnosis and management plan and critically appraise evidence base for treatments of rheumatic disease. After taking this unit the student should be able to: Apply the GALS locomotion examination to the rheumatic disease patient as the basis for clinical assessment for diagnosis. Describe the clinical symptoms and signs which distinguish inflammatory joint disease from other conditions. List the members and describe the function of the GP led primary care team in the care of the rheumatic patient. Outline the main groups of drugs used in arthritis and describe the efficacy, side effects and monitoring programme for each of the currently/commonly used Disease Modifying Anti Rheumatic Drugs to a patient. Describe the key epidemiological factors in osteoarthritis and describe how this information is used in the context of management of that disease. Examine the treatment choices in osteoarthritis and the principles of selecting a patient for joint replacement surgery. Explain the design methodologies and tools commonly used in clinical research, write a research protocol, ethics committee submission and grant application for a clinical research project. Evaluate a published clinical research study and undertake a simple statistical evaluation for research. Describe the audit cycle, the benefits and applications of clinical audit and undertake a complete audit in primary care practice. Content: * Rapid screening technique - gait, arms, legs, spine (GALS); * The multi-skilled health professional team; * Clinical aspects of osteoarthritis, risk factors, epidemiology, common presenting features and management principles; * Main groups of drugs used in arthritis; * Research and audit in General Practice. |