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LevelEpidemiological Basis of Clinical Diagnosis (B-KUL-E05A8A)
Cannot be taken as part of an examination contractAims
The course offers students the necessary handles to learn to think critically about diagnostic decision-making and -acting, to evaluate information from literature (research reports and literature reviews) and to involve the results in their clinical actions.
This course is complementary to 'Epidemiology and Data Analysis' (Billiau & Rogiers), taught in the first bachelor year. It offers in-depth study of central aspects in the further training in clinical thinking. It is a useful preparation for the clinical lectures of following years, for the planned training 'Critical Reading' and the science training.
Previous knowledge
Knowledge of epidemiology and data analysis is required.
Course material
Articles and literature
Order of Enrolment
Mixed prerequisite:
You may only take this course if you comply with the prerequisites. Prerequisites can be strict or flexible, or can imply simultaneity. A degree level can be also be a prerequisite.
Explanation:
STRICT: You may only take this course if you have passed or applied tolerance for the courses for which this condition is set.
FLEXIBEL: You may only take this course if you have previously taken the courses for which this condition is set.
SIMULTANEOUS: You may only take this course if you also take the courses for which this condition is set (or have taken them previously).
DEGREE: You may only take this course if you have obtained this degree level.
FLEXIBLE(E02A9A) OR FLEXIBLE(U05A7A)
The codes of the course units mentioned above correspond to the following course descriptions:
E02A9A : Epidemiology and Biostatistics
U05A7A : Epidemiology and Data-analysis
Activities
3.0 ects. Epidemiological Basis of Clinical Diagnosis (B-KUL-E05A8a)
Content
Clinical epidemiology is the application of the epidemiological (quantitative) method on clinical problems with individual patients. Thus, opinions, impressions, intuition, etc. are as much as possible completed by knowledge of the relative value of complaints, symptoms and research results with different patients, and by documented predictions of the effect of a treatment or of an expected prognosis. Sackett called it 'the science of the art of medicine'.
A. How do I make a diagnosis? An introductory part discussses techniques used by doctors to make a diagnosis. It is illustrated by examples. The four simplest and commonest indicators of the diagnostic value of test results are illustrated and practised.
B. What does a test offer me? This part is directed at the further practice of part A. In addition, it discusses the contribution of an individual test result in the diagnostic thinking of a doctor. The concept of 'diagnostic power' of a test result is introduced as well.
And what if it gets tougher? The discussed concepts are further practised. In addition, students work for the first time with results of continuous tests. Those are represented by ROC curves. The article accompanying this course is a meta-analysis, which permits to introduce this concept as well.
Description of learning activities
Preparation of the seminar by the student/ explanation of problems by group members and instructor/ application on specific problems/ exercises.
Course material
Course material consists of a folder containing photocopies of articles and chapters from books.
Evaluation
Evaluation : Epidemiological Basis of Clinical Diagnosis (B-KUL-E25A8a)
Explanation
The last 15 minutes of the final gathering, students answer questions similar to the ones they had to prepare for every gathering.
