Professional Practice in Tropical Health

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours per 12.5 credit point subject

To enrol in this subject, you must be admitted in the Graduate Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. This subject is not available for students admitted in any other courses.

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this course are articulated in the Course Overview, Objectives and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this course are encouraged to discuss this matter with the Student Equity and Disability Support Team: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject is a core subject of the Postgraduate Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. It is designed to provide a capstone experience to help students consolidate their tropical health training via an advanced professional work placement.

Students will undertake a supervised professional work placement in a setting and/or with an organisation appropriate to tropical health, in Australia or overseas. Each practicum experience will be individually tailored and negotiated by the student, the supervisor and the host organisation. Students will apply their academic knowledge and new skills to real-world tropical health challenges, further developing their specialist and professional skill set by contributing to the needs of an agency, institution, organisation or setting pertaining to tropical health. Each student will spend 30 hours in the selected workplace either as a block during one semester or distributed across one or two semesters.

The practicum experience will enable students to bridge the gap between the classroom and public health practice, whilst developing contacts with stakeholders and experts in the field of tropical health.

Upon completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• Apply, integrate and synthesise knowledge and skills acquired throughout the course to tackle real-world tropical health challenges,
• Analyse, evaluate and propose practical solutions to problems identified within the bounds of the project/setting,
• Solve practical problems whilst working with potentially unstructured and incomplete information,
• Develop professional networks within a given tropical health context,
• Demonstrate and critically reflect upon key professional attributes sought by employers (such as communication and interpersonal skills, project management skills, team work and initiative) ,
• Clearly communicate findings and results in a professional tropical health context.

1. A 500 word outline of the proposed project, including project background, aims, methodology and timeline, which will be included in a blog for the subject - 10%
2. A critical reflective piece of 1,000 words detailing the challenges faced and reflections the development of key professional attributes throughout the work placement - 20%
3. A project report of 3,000 words or equivalent - 60%
4. A 500 word summary of the project to be posted on the blog for the subject - 10%
5. Assessment of the student’s completed project by the supervisor - hurdle requirement

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Upon completion of this subject, students will have developed skills in:

• Critical thinking and analysis,
• Working with others,
• Finding, evaluation and using relevant information,
• Problem-solving,
• Written communication.