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Tropical Medicine and Clinical Decision Making

This 10-week course for medical doctors focuses on descriptive pathology, laboratory practices and clinical decision-making in tropical medicine.

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Deadline: 1 October 2024

Short Courses

10 ECTS Credits

English

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About the course

Rationale

The short course “Tropical Medicine and Clinical Decision Making” (TMCDM) is organised for medical doctors. This course focuses on descriptive pathology, laboratory practices and clinical decision-making adapted to low-resource settings and tropical district hospitals.


This specialised clinical course is primarily designed for medical doctors who have no or little professional experience in (low-resource) tropical settings, as well as for medical doctors and scientists enrolled in the MTM, who wish to work in reference labs, academic/research institutions and with health actors (NGOs) in the South. It may also be suited for physicians from the South looking for a useful update in tropical medicine, with a strong focus on clinical decision-making. Finally, it could be considered as a specialised course worthwhile for clinicians working or planning to work in non-tropical settings with travelers and migrants (though the focus is on managing tropical pathologies in low-resource setting). Exceptionally, other health care professionals can be admitted (read more in the section on admission criteria).


The TMCDM course may stand on its own, but can also be combined with the short course “Challenges in International Health” (CIH) the latter being designed for a broader range of health professionals and providing a complementary perspective (beyond clinical care) in the field of international health. Together these two courses constitute the Postgraduate Certificate "Advanced Tropical Medicine and Challenges in International Health" (ATMCIH).


The combination of the TMCDM course with Research Approaches in International Health (RIH) and Challenges in International Health constitutes the Postgraduate Certificate in "Tropical Medicine and International Health" (TMIH).


The course can also be a course component in a Master of Science in Tropical Medicine - orientation Clinical Sciences.

Learning objectives

At the end of this course, participants should be able to:

  • Assess statements about epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and management (including preventive measures and community interventions) of clinical cases presenting with symptoms of tropical diseases
  • Assess statements about clinical presentation, diagnosis and management of clinical cases with an HIV-infection, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases in low resource settings
  • Assess statements about clinical presentation, diagnosis and management of common paediatric, dermatological and gynaecological conditions in a tropical setting
  • Discuss the performances and pitfalls of laboratory tests in a tropical district hospital and interpret their results within a given clinical context;
  • Integrate all domain-specific knowledge (epidemiology, clinical, laboratory) to elaborate a sound differential diagnosis and propose adequate clinical management for clinical cases in a hospital with scarce resources in a tropical setting. 

Tuition fee

€ 1160 EEA / 3200 non-EEA

Course Leader(s)

  • Emmanuel Bottieau

Course Administrator(s)

  • Gerlinde Segers
  • Anne Thoelen
  • Cathy Liu

Course Coordinator(s)

  • Grizel Sami Alcedo Ascencios

Contact

  • tmih@itg.be