Module - Advanced Pathophysiology and Disease in Practice

Course Overview

The course starts with some introductory activities that take you through good literature searching skills and how to structure a literature review. You’ll pick a condition, perform a literature search, read in depth on the topic and then write a review of the current understanding of that (the focus being on the cellular events that represent the primary pathophysiological events of the condition) There are no face to face / synchronous activities or teaching sessions, but you will have plenty of opportunity for contact with the module leader, who will support / guide you through the process.

On this course you will...

• You will explore how most of the conditions / diseases that we are familiar with have at their point of onset one or two of a limited number of possible malfunctions (alterations in homeostatic balance at cellular level) the downstream effects of which manifest themselves in tissue / organ and systemic malfunctions which we recognise by their associated signs and symptoms.
• Rather than cover the major conditions in a system by system approach the aim of the module is to equip you with a toolbox of transferable understanding which will allow you to better understand conditions and diseases that you are unfamiliar with and the rationale for intervention / treatment.
• You will do lots of reading, and lots of learning. The module leader is there to support you in the choice of topic, and will help planning what to include (and, importantly, what not to include) in the review. You will therefore need to be well organised and highly motivated to learn.