Units / BMS1042
BMS1042 · Public health and preventive medicine
2026 Handbook6 credit pointsLevel 1School of Biomedical Sciences
Last checked: 23 Aug 2026 UTCOverview
Applications of epidemiological and statistical concepts and methods to typical problems in population health and in the biomedical literature. This will include consideration of fundamental ethical issues pertaining to the conduct of biomedical research and population health interventions. Much emphasis is placed on a population view of health and disease, social determinants of health, epidemiological principles, research study design and statistical analyses of data.
Offerings
| Campus | Teaching period | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Clayton | Second semester | Activities scheduled as a mix of on-campus and online activities (BLENDED) |
Assessment
The Handbook lists an examination for this unit.
| # | Assessment | Type | Weight | Hurdle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Online quizzes | Quiz / Test | 10% | — |
| 2 | Public health critical appraisal | Project | 20% | — |
| 3 | Public health data analysis | Written | 30% | — |
| 4 | Written examination (2 hours and 10 minutes) | Examination | 40% | Threshold |
Assessment in this unit includes hurdle assessment tasks. Failure of any hurdle assessment task may result in failure of the unit.
Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.
Requisites
The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.
Learning outcomes
- Demonstrate and show application of core public health principles including epidemiology, biostatistics and ethics in health research.
- Explain how disease is measured in populations and critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses of different epidemiological study designs which are used in public health research.
- Critically appraise the popular and biomedical literature in public health.
- Identify fundamental ethical considerations that underpin health research.
- Identify and apply the importance of statistical methods in the design, analysis and presentation of the results of research studies in health and biomedicine, and in reports of health-related matters in general.
- Interpret statistical results presented and identify limitations in the biomedical literature and other media and convey the interpretation in simple language.
Workload
The workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours spread across the semester (approx. 12 hours per week). The workload is composed of approximately an even mixture of attendance at scheduled activities and self-scheduled study time. Learning activities comprise a mixture of face-to-face and online engagement.
| Activity | Duration |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 33 hours |
| Tutorials | 40 hours |
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