GEM 201 — Medical, Professional and Behavioural Studies

GEM 201 introduces graduate-entry students to the study of medicine and to problem-based learning in the hybrid curriculum of the School of Medical Sciences, and to how PBL relates to lectures, tutorials and practicals. It develops the study skills, critical thinking and information skills needed for self-directed and lifelong learning, and shows how the basic sciences link to clinical medicine through anatomical and physiological terminology, the systems of the body and case-based biochemistry. It introduces the community, culture and development as determinants of health, with survey methods and basic biostatistics. It covers bioethical theory and principles, virtue ethics and research integrity, the Ghana Health Service Patients’ Charter and medicine and the law; the attributes and expectations of a doctor; patient-centred communication; public presentation; and evidence-based medicine. The psychology strand covers attitudes, social influence, assertiveness, teamwork, the self and self-esteem, stress and coping, health behaviour, leadership and medical decision making, and the foundations of human psychology: development, language, personality, learning, memory, consciousness, intelligence and its measurement, motivation and emotion, perception and communication. It ends with an introduction to psychiatry. Throughout, the module emphasises positive and therapeutic interaction with patients, colleagues and seniors, and the management of stress in medical training and practice.