Accelerated On-Campus MPH

PH 118:

Community Health: Needs Assessment, Program Design, and Evaluation

(1.25 units)

This course develops defining skills in public health: assessing a community’s needs, designing programs to address those needs, and evaluating the effectiveness of those programs. Students will learn the principles of these processes. Working in teams, students will evaluate a non-profit hospital’s Community Health Needs Assessment, the programs the hospital designed in response, and the evaluation process the hospital employs. Students will report the strengths and opportunities for improvement they identify to hospital staff.

The Applied Practice Experience (APE) component is met in this course.

PH 140:

Applying Health Statistics

(1.5 units)

Students will critically appraise studies of analytic epidemiology. After classifying a study’s design and acknowledging its inherent limitations, students will trace what outcome measures (e.g., risks) and effect measures (e.g., risk ratios) were used to describe the problem and assess impact. Students will appraise the choice of these numbers, how the authors explained them, and whether their conclusions were justified. Weekly laboratory sessions allow students to conduct their own analyses with Stata® on real-world datasets.

PH 125:

Introduction to Qualitative Methods for Public Health & Healthcare Studies

(0.50 unit)

This course introduces students to qualitative design and methods in public health and health care as a stand-alone approach and in combination with quantitative approaches (mixed methods) for research, evaluation, and needs assessment. Topics include an overview of qualitative traditions, distinguishing between qualitative and quantitative approaches, when to use qualitative or mixed methods designs, how to design a qualitative study including quality standards, common qualitative methods, data collection, qualitative analysis, and presenting results.

PH 112:

Medical Care and the Corporation (elective)

(1.0 unit)

This course examines the critical issues facing business leaders as they approach and finance health benefits for employees, manage cost, and choose the best strategy for recruiting and retaining a productive workforce. Students will build an understanding of the structure, economics and dynamics of the employer based health care system from the perspective of corporate leaders, learn how the ACA has fundamentally changed the strategic landscape and comprehend alternative approaches to help businesses cope with these strategic issues.

This course is cross-listed with Tuck School of Business in their MBA program.

PH 130:

Practical Approaches for Today's Health Care Ethics Challenges (elective)

(0.50 unit)

This highly interactive, inter-professional elective emphasizes critical thinking, real-world application, and decision-making to clinical, research, public health, and organizational ethics issues. Students will build practical ethical reasoning skills by applying ethics principles through case study discussions regarding challenges faced by today’s health care professionals. Students will learn to use a systematic ethical analysis process to recognize, respond to, and prevent ethical conflicts to foster an ethically aligned organization.

PH 100:

Inferential Methods in Epidemiology and Public Health I

(1.0 unit)

Students will learn to recognize the purpose, structure, strengths and weaknesses of common study designs: randomized controlled trials and observational studies (cohort and case-control). Weekly journal clubs establish a critical assessment framework to determine the relevance and validity of published studies. Students apply this knowledge through collaboratively writing a systematic review proposal, which includes developing a research question, conducting a preliminary literature search, and considering appropriate inclusion/exclusion criteria.

PH 137:

Global Health

(0.50 unit)

Principles and frameworks for the design of efficient and effective global health projects/programs to improve health outcomes will be illuminated through analyzing real-world cases featuring resource-poor populations. Experts with first-hand experience in the design and implementation of project/programs/systems will be invited to join the class as guest speakers and mentors to highlight successes and barriers to global health projects in low-resource settings. Students will be asked to consider health systems, culture, and historical content beyond the borders of the US and how universal themes such as epidemiology, pathophysiology, culture, economics, and politics influence the design of successful interventions. Students will then apply their contextual awareness of environment, culture, economics, and politics to develop their own global health delivery project. By choosing a specific global health disease/condition, country, and population of interest, they will tackle a global health concern at the community level. They will then dive deeper into what managing a global health project might look like from the perspective of an implementing partner, who is reporting to donors and local stakeholders. As part of this project development, students will work with mentors and experts across disciplines that impact their project in different ways such as politics, governance, entrepreneurship, law, business, and technology. Above all, through the course and project we hope students will develop universal skills and understandings which will assist them in being successful leaders for equity in global health.

PH 120:

Health Coproduction (elective)

(0.50 unit)

Coproduction has been defined as the interdependent work of users and professionals to design, create, develop, deliver, assess and improve the health of individuals and populations, through mutual respect and partnership, that invites participants’ strengths and expertise. At the core, coproduction relies on shared decision making, and to operationalize the approach, a learning health system approach is advocated.

PH 105:

The Patient Revolution: Capturing the Patient Voice in Healthcare Policy and Research (seminar elective)

(0.25 unit)

This seminar will interweave the need for a Patient Revolution in healthcare, and strategies to achieve it. Sessions will begin with a discussion of patient stories from ‘Why We Revolt – a patient revolution for careful and kind care’ by Victor Montori (book provided). Students will learn practical strategies and tools by which we can create change including: 1) how to engage patients and other stakeholders in health system design and research, 2) the importance of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs), giving patients a voice in healthcare policy and research, and 3) how to critically appraise patient engagement and PROM quality.

PH 106:

Policy for Clinicians: Influencing Formulation to Lead in Implementation (seminar elective)

(0.25 unit)

Drawing upon lessons from implementation of reform policy in the US (ACA, 2010) and UK (HSCA, 2012), this seminar will prepare students with clinical backgrounds or interests to influence policy formulation. Students will critique five design principles for reform at the frontlines of care and identify capabilities needed for system-wide implementation of policy reforms that improve health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations. Their application and synthesis of these principles and capabilities will serve as a framework for consolidating and expanding TDI learnings while acquiring the skills that will equip them to lead in health policy as well as clinical practice.

PH 108:

Recording clinical encounters: what are the implications and the potential benefits? (seminar elective)

(0.25 unit)

People are recording their visits to health professionals: sometimes they ask permission, sometimes they do not. These four seminars will examine the emotions generated, the arguments for and against, and the fast-moving technological developments that will take advantage of digital recordings of clinical encounters.

PH 104:

Strategies to Pursue Personal Health and Create a Culture of Wellbeing (seminar elective)

(0.50 unit)

This seminar aims to advance health professionals capacity to model evidence-based wellbeing strategies and to collaborate with colleagues in leading change and creating cultures of wellness. We will examine wellbeing through individual and population-based lens, explore current and complex health challenges and apply evidence-based solutions to foster personal and community wellbeing. Students will participate in case-based readings, self-reflection, in-depth discussion and application of evidence-based wellbeing strategies, tools and skills. The course is grounded in an experiential learning approach and draws on principles of prevention, personal health practices, and processes of improvement.

PH 133:

WHO: Declaring Public Health Emergencies: Flu to Monkeypox

(0.25 unit)

The World Health Organization (WHO) follows policies established in the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005) to declare an epidemic a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)”. We will analyze these policies and criteria in general terms and then in the specific terms when a PHEIC has been declared. Between 2009 and 2022, WHO has declared a PHEIC seven times: for Pandemic Influenza (2009), Polio (2014), Ebola (2014), Zika Neurological syndromes (2016), Ebola (2019), COVID-19 (2020), and monkeypox (2022). Only the WHO Director-General (DG) can convene the IHR-mandated Emergency Committee of outside experts to advise her/him whether or not to declare an epidemic a PHEIC. Also, only the WHO DG can make the decision whether or not to declare a PHEIC regardless of the advice of this Expert Committee. If a PHEIC is declared then the WHO must declare what specific “temporary recommendations” (valid for 3 months) must be made, and then reviewed every three months. We will also discuss how declaring a PHEIC, or not, could be improved by WHO i.e., “What’s Next?”

PH 135:

Exploration of Race, Anti-Black Racism and Public Health

(0.25 unit)

Following the summer of 2020, a number of local municipalities in the U.S. declared ‘racism is a public health crisis’. In order to grapple with the impact of racism on the health of individuals, we must first understand the concept of race and the enduring impact on specific groups. This course will examine the history of racial concepts that continue to permeate U.S. society since its founding. We will explore the social construction of race and racism – including a review of anti-black racism.

PH 102:

Systematic Review (elective)

(1.0 unit)

Sample text here for class description

PH 122:

Survey Methods (elective)

(1 unit)

This course introduces the basic skills needed to conduct and present survey research. It will focus on two aspects of such research: designing and administering a survey (primary data collection); and accessing, analyzing and reporting on data from publicly available national survey data (secondary data analysis). Topics covered will include survey design, sampling, validity, reliability, data collection, analysis, interpretation and reporting of results. To reinforce practical skills, the course will include weekly computer labs, research in progress sessions to critique draft survey instruments, and a journal club to critically read articles reporting survey results.

PH 115:

Leading Change in Value-Based Public Health and Healthcare

(1 unit)

A core aim of The Dartmouth Institute is to measurably improve health. In this course, students will develop skills to define and lead important improvement initiatives: design thinking, finance for non-finance professionals, persuasion and leadership. Students will learn strategy, budgeting, resource allocation and financial decision making as needed to build a “business case.” The course weaves in negotiation, persuasion, and team interaction to develop valuable leadership skills. Students will hear from important leaders from finance, issue advocacy, and public health. Each student will define a real-world project inspired through design thinking with the intent of implementing it in a community; over eight weeks each student will construct a persuasion case that includes the “business case” and conclude the process by pitching to a community leader.

PH 141:

From Observational Data to Valid Inference: Regression and Other Approaches (elective)

(1.5 units)

In the quest to understand and improve population health and healthcare, observation is essential – and yet when we observe the world, the true nature of cause, effect, and association can be obscured. To see beyond influences that disguise the truth, investigators need expertise and ingenuity – to use multivariable statistics, and understand when their use is indicated, and adequate, to address a question. In PH 141, students will gain proficiency – in study design and analysis, interpretation and communication – to capably address threats to inferential validity in epidemiologic and other observational data, and apply these capabilities to questions about health, disease, and healthcare.

PH 151:

Environmental Health Sciences and Policy (elective)

(0.50 unit)

In this course students explore major environmental and occupational health issues by applying basic tools of environmental science including epidemiologic methods, toxicology and risk assessment. Students examine the relationship between environmental and occupational exposures and human disease, emphasizing the interface of science and policy, the role of regulatory agencies and environmental risk communication. Topics include air and water quality, hazardous waste, radiation, heavy metals, food safety, environmental pathogens, and clinical occupational medicine. Teaching tools include lectures, audiovisual media, case studies, guest experts, and assigned readings/exercises.

PH 131:

Patient Centered Health Communication (elective)

(0.50 unit)

Health care decisions are complicated – really complicated – and frequently lack evidence to determine a ‘one best’ course of treatment. As such, patient‐centered health communications increasingly are recognized as a critical means to facilitate health care decisions that provide patients with “the care they need, and no less; and the care they want and no more” (Al Mulley, The Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science). Shared decision making is on strategy to promote better communication with patients and has been described as “the pinnacle” of patient centered care (Barry, Mass General Hospital)

The objectives of this course are to 1) engage you to think broadly about the impact of communication at the patient, institutional, and population level, with a focus on shared decision making; 2) to gain skills and experience related to the design and development of decision support tools and methods; 3) to understand the challenges involved in implementing decision support into practice at the clinical and policy level.

PH 161:

Independent Internship 1 (elective)

(0.25 unit)

Part 1 of the Independent Internship. The public health field internship provides students with an opportunity to apply principles and skills learned in the classroom - the measurement, organization, and improvement of population health - to real situations in the field. The placement site can be an agency or organization in any sector – government, non-profit, or for-profit – but any university-affiliated settings must be focused primarily on community engagement, typically with external partners. Students will be provided a selection of TDI-sourced Internship offerings but students may also opt to identify a self-sourced internship site. The project should be scoped such that a minimum of 120 hours will be spent at the placement site. Activities of the internship should be mutually beneficial to both the site and the student, with the student specifying five learning objectives for their learning experience. Students will spend the Winter term contacting internship sites and applying for an internship position. By the end of the term each student will be matched and have developed a mutually agreed upon contract with their Internship Site preceptor that will require approval from the course directors before the start of the Spring term. Typically, the internship series occurs in the winter and spring terms of the year, but other arrangements are possible with permission of the course director(s).

PH 177-179:

Independent ILE

(1.50 units)

This requirement can be met in the designated spring courses, or completed or completed as an independent learning experience.

PH 117:

Intro to Quality Improvement in Health Systems

(1 unit)

This course develops systems thinking in health care and public health. Students explore various perspectives on healthcare services, including coproduction of health and health care, connections between communities and health systems, and making change in complex system. Students will learn and apply basic improvement skills and will be exposed to a variety of approaches and examples. Implications of health care systems on social inequities and structural bias are a central focus.

PH 216:

Medical Care Epidemiology

(0.50 unit)

Almost a half century after John Wennberg’s seminal Science paper, the field of medical care epidemiology and the investigation of health care variation continues to inform public policy and identify opportunities for health system improvement. This five-week course highlights the theories, methods, findings, and associated remedies, which are contrasted with the more familiar field of classical epidemiology (i.e., patterns of health and disease). This course requires a high level of student engagement during class. Course talks are pre-recorded and are viewed along with assigned readings prior to classes. Class time is primarily reserved for structured discussion of the course content in small groups and with the whole class; a portion of class time is also set aside for student questions. Specific assignments are: reading/video quizzes, pre-class worksheets requiring short answers and essays, and a final paper. Class engagement and participation is mandatory and self-evaluated by each student.

PH 117:

Intro to Quality Improvement in Health Systems

(1 unit)

This course develops systems thinking in health care and public health. Students explore various perspectives on healthcare services, including coproduction of health and health care, connections between communities and health systems, and making change in complex system. Students will learn and apply basic improvement skills and will be exposed to a variety of approaches and examples. Implications of health care systems on social inequities and structural bias are a central focus.

PH 101:

Inferential Methods in Epidemiology and Public Health II

(0.50 unit)

As a continuation of PH100, students learn to recognize the purpose, structure, strengths and weaknesses of common study designs: decision and cost-effectiveness analysis, before-after, cross-sectional, qualitative and mixed-methods studies. Weekly journal clubs establish a critical assessment framework to determine the relevance and validity of published studies. Students apply this knowledge through continued collaborative writing of a systematic review proposal, which includes refinement of a search strategy and selection of three studies that fulfill inclusion criteria.

PH 124 & PH 129:

Advanced Topics in Quality Improvement (elective)

(1.5 units (PH 124); 1.0 unit (PH 129))

This course addresses advanced topics in improvement science and coproduction and explores implementation science, value creation in health care, coaching, and leadership/change management. Students will have the opportunity to apply skills from prior courses (PH 117, 126, & 120 (coproduction)) to case studies and other learning opportunities related to improving health and health care services. Content for the course will include both U.S.-based and international material.

The Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) component can be met in this course.

PH 147:

Advanced Health Services Research (elective)

(1.5 units)

This course will develop student analytic competencies to the level necessary to conceptualize, plan, carry out, and effectively communicate small research projects in health services or epidemiology. Lectures, demonstrations, and labs will be used to integrate and extend methods introduced in other QBS and TDI courses. The students will leverage synthetic electronic health record data provided by the Analytics Institute at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and publicly available data in classroom lab exercises and course assignments. Many of the labs build on one another, and the aim is that the skills developed in the labs will assist the students with their own student-led projects. The instructors will mentor students as they develop their own analytic projects. Practical skill areas include programming in R, developing an analytic workflow, data visualization, and data structure and management. The main goal of the course is to firmly ground students in the scientific process of observational research.

The Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) component can be met in this course.

PH 119 & PH 121:

Decision and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (elective) 

(1.5 units (PH 119); 1.0 unit (PH 121) )

This course covers the fundamental principles and mechanics of decision analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis. Topics covered in the course include basics of probability (including Bayes’ Theorem), structuring decision problems as decision trees and Markov models, components of preference (value preference, time preference, and risk preference), valuing multidimensional outcomes, evaluating decision trees, sensitivity analysis, value of information, and basic principles of cost-effectiveness analysis. Weekly problem sets are also used to reinforce the concepts presented in class. The course has a weekly lab that involves use of decision analysis software to reinforce concepts presented in class. Labs are also used for development, progress review and discussion of small group decision analysis projects, which culminate in formal presentations the last week of class.

The Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) component can be met in this course.

PH 116:

Maternal Health Equity

(1.5 units)

Maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality outcomes are vital measures of population health and there are vast inequities in these outcomes across national and sub-national comparisons around the world. Understanding the historical and present-day contexts in which these inequities develop(ed) and how health systems respond(ed) is critical for improving population and individual health and eliminating these inequities in the long term. This course is designed to build knowledge and analytical skills in the following three areas: 1) conceptual basis for the determinants of maternal and newborn health, 2) key public health and clinical interventions designed to reduce inequities in outcomes, and 3) comparative analysis of relevant measures of inequities in these outcomes. The course will focus on both inequities in the U.S. and in low and middle-income countries to provide a global perspective on these inequities and to explore solutions across and within populations.

PH 113 & PH 123:

Health Policy (elective)

(1.5 units (PH 113); 1.0 unit (PH 123) )

The course begins with an investigation into how health policy is shaped by legislation, regulations and the courts. After understanding the process, each student chooses a policy topic they care about and begins to build a persuasive advocacy strategy for making the change they want to see happen. The course then delves deeply into theories of change and effective communication and negotiation with stakeholders. Each course assignment is a piece of the final project, which is a written policy advocacy strategy that includes: an analysis of a policy issue, a summary of relevant research, a stakeholder analysis, an advocacy campaign plan, a metrics-based evaluation plan, and prepared written and oral communication points that target different audiences.

The Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) component can be met in this course.

PH 114:

Contemporary Issues in Biotechnology: The Practitioner’s Perspective (elective)

(0.50 unit)

In this course, students will gain an appreciation for the biotechnology industry, its premise and continued promise, as well as what is required for biotechnology entrepreneurs in the 21st century to attract investment capital. Areas ripe for investment and development will be explored, as will lessons that have been learned over the past four decades that have been witness to the creation of thousands of biotechnology companies, and the very way that innovation is supported by the pharmaceutical industry and regulated by worldwide governments.

PH 143:

Climate and Health (elective)

(0.50 unit)

This course will take an interdisciplinary approach to examine the connections between human health, ecosystems, and climate change. Students will be equipped with the knowledge and tools to become effective advocates to reduce climate impacts on health at the individual, population, and global levels. After reviewing the foundations of climate science, the course will explore the environmental conditions, hazards, and health outcomes associated with climate change. Issues of health equity, the impact of climate on vulnerable populations, and climate justice will be addressed. Teaching tools include lectures, team-based learning, audiovisual media, case studies, guest experts, and assigned readings/exercises. Summative assignments will provide students the opportunity to propose approaches to climate-informed health care and public health policy.

PH 145:

Public Opinion on Health & Social Spending

Course Description to Come.