HPR 179 A-Z - Special Topics in Health

Semester Hours: 1-3

Current Special Topics

HPR 179AG - Geriatric and Palliative Medicine: A Compassionate and Patient-Centered Approach to Health Care

Students will be introduced to the challenges and rewards clinicians face in treating patients with serious illness and those with multiple chronic conditions; the course will focus on how to help patients transition from curative care to supportive care, the benefits, limits and distinctions between hospice and palliative care, shared decision making and informed consent. The distinctive needs of older adult patients and those with multiple chronic conditions will also be explored.   Cultural and psychosocial influences that impact both patient and clinician will be explored.  Evaluating individual and family caregiver goals for quality of life versus quantity of life, as well as ethical issues surrounding care, and clinician communication will be examined.  

HPR 179Q - Public Health Emergencies: Current Trends in Community Response and Government’s Role

This course will examine the current trends in Public Health Emergencies. Several public health emergencies of the 21st century have demonstrated the need for enormous coordination among multiple entities for good outcomes. Historically, these preparedness and response activities have mostly been within the domain of local, state, and national government agencies. However, the private sector and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are also playing larger roles in recent public health emergencies for multiple reasons. Often, the government may be limited in the immediate resources available to respond to an emergency or these agencies may not be able to help speedily, and the private sector and NGOs may be able to deliver aid quickly through well-established formal and informal networks. The course will look specifically at how local Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) works in conjunction with health care, community-based organizations and the private sector, to facilitate the sharing and exchange of information and resources in comprehensive, integrated and effective ways.

Prerequisite(s)/Course Notes:
As individual subjects are selected, each is assigned a letter (A-Z) and added to the course number. Any course may be taken a number of times so long as there is a different letter designation each time it is taken. Specific titles and course descriptions for special topics courses are available in the online class schedule.

View Course Offering(s):

Summer Session I 2026

Summer Session II 2026

Summer Session III 2026

Fall 2026