| Title: |
Clinical Management of Tropical Diseases (CMTD)
with optional supplement:
Occupational Medicine in International Health (OMIH) |
| Keywords: |
Tropical medicine
Medical & Clinical sciences
Disease prevention, control and elimination
Communicable diseases
|
| Country: |
Germany
|
| Institution: |
Germany - Institute of International Health, Berlin
|
| Course coordinator: |
Andreas Lindner
|
| Date start: |
2025-02-10 |
| Date end: |
2025-02-21 |
| About duration and dates: |
2 weeks (face-to-face) The application deadline is 6 weeks before module starts. |
| Classification: |
advanced optional
|
| Mode of delivery: |
Face to face
|
Course location:
Institute of Tropical Medicine and International Health,
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Campus Virchow-Klinikum
Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany |
|
| ECTS credit points: |
3 ECTS credits
|
SIT:
90 hours SIT
• Contact: 52 hours,
• Self-directed learning: 38 hours |
|
| Language: |
English
|
Description:
By the end of the CMTD course, students should be able to:
• Analyse and differentiate the clinical presentations of major infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC)
• Critically differentiate potential diagnoses of common infectious diseases in LMIC
• Identify sensitive and realistic therapeutic approaches with regard to locally varying demands and possibilities
• Apply evidence-based algorithms for diagnostic work-up and treatment in resource-poor settings |
|
Assessment Procedures:
A 2-hour closed book multiple choice/short answer exam. The exam will cover theoretical aspects of the module.
The student passes the exam if ≥ 60% of the questions are answered correctly. If the student fails s/he can re-sit on a date agreed on with the module coordinator. A second re-sit is allowed but may be linked to conditions set by the Committee of Admissions and Degrees. |
|
Content:
Based on the knowledge provided in the core course, the CMTD advanced module focuses on the applied differential diagnosis and case management of important diseases in resource-poor settings. The concept is to focus on the syndrome rather than on the pathogen/specific disease and to analyse potential causes and management options.
I. Major infections in resource poor settings:
1. Bacterial infections: tuberculosis, leprosy, typhoid fever, paratyphoid, cholera, meningococcal disease, rickettsial diseases, relapsing fevers, Q-fever, leptospirosis, melioidosis and brucellosis;
2. Viral Infections: HIV/AIDS, Dengue-fever and DHF, Yellow-fever, Japanese encephalitis, viral haemorrhagic fevers and arthropod-borne viral infections, rabies;
3. Protozoal infections: malaria, leishmaniosis, African and American trypanosomiasis, toxoplasmosis, amoebiasis, giardiasis and other gut protozoal infections;
4. Helminth infections: nematode, trematode and cestode infections and filariases.
II. Differential diagnoses: Case studies and group exercises, following an inclusive syndrome-wise work-up, and applying pre-formed diagnostic algorithms: DDs of fever, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, skin changes and neurological presentations are discussed; use of ultrasound for differential diagnosis of tropical diseases.
III. Treatment options: Case studies, group discussions, syndrome guided work-up, and pre-formed therapeutic algorithms are used to appraise the treatment options for infectious diseases in respect to costs and settings. |
|
Methods:
The course uses participatory learning, based on interactive lectures (23 hrs), case presentations (12 hrs), seminars and supervised/guided group discussions of cases (14 hrs), as well as self-directed learning (38 hrs). (Exam & feedback 3 hrs) |
|
Prerequisites:
• Medical degree (qualification as physician) and successful completion of the Charité core course of the MScIH programme (MScIH students and DTMPH candidates)
• Medical degree and professional experience in the field of infectious diseases and tropical medicine (tropEd and guest students)
• Registered nurses, clinical officers etc. with experience in providing curative patient care may apply for a special permission to be admitted.
If not a native speaker: Internationally recognised English proficiency certificate equivalent to a TOEFL test 550 or 213 computer-based or 79/80 internet-based or IELTS band 6.0. |
|
Attendance:
Max. number of students: 25
Students have to attend 85% of the face-to-face week. |
|
Selection:
DTMPH candidates, who apply in time, i.e. before the application deadline (see below) expires, have priority over MScIH/tropEd students, alumni, and guest students. Otherwise, places are allocated on a “first-come, first-served” basis.
The application deadline is 6 weeks before module starts. |
|
Fees:
CMTD module:
1.050,00 € for tropEd/MScIH students and alumni (For Berlin students who started their studies in 2022 or earlier the old scale of fees applies. Please see here)
1.312,50 € for DTMPH participants and guest students |
|
|
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Major changes since initial accreditation:
2015:
• CMTD now focuses entirely on differential diagnosis and therapeutic aspects of tropical medicine, at the expense of diagnostic and parasitological aspects that were moved to the module “Parasitology in International Health” in 2013.
• The optional OMIH supplement is offered to those who expect to work in occupational health in the context of LMIC, and to those who aim at obtaining the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Public Health, for which the supplement is required by the German Society of Tropical Medicine.
2019:
• Omission of the oral examination. The assessment procedure with written and oral examinations deemed too extensive for a 2-weeks course.
Now (2020):
• Change of coordinator. Due to other commitments at LMU, Munich, Dr Camilla Rothe has handed over the coordination to Dr Andreas Lindner, IMTIH Berlin.
• Detachment of the OMIH supplement again. The contents of OMIH will now be taught in a separate webinar called “consultation of business travellers” (CBT) (not tropEd accredited). CBT includes contents specifically required for the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Public Health (DTMPH) and the sub-specialisation in Tropical Medicine, respectively, according to the German medical specialisation regulations. |
|
Student evaluation:
Student evaluations of the CMTD module have been overwhelmingly positive. One minor criticism was that some of the cases presented in the last module, although certainly very interesting, were very unusual manifestations/courses. Students questioned their didactic value. Otherwise, students appreciated the profound clinical expertise of the lecturers, and the geographic diversity they represented as well as the participative learning approach. |
|
Lessons learned:
• Although we want to offer within our MScIH programme special medical training to clinicians working in LMIC, the core course should be kept attractive for non-clinical students and not be overloaded with special clinical knowledge. The concept to reserve teaching of such special clinical knowledge for the CMTD module and to limit the participation to clinicians works very well!
• Offering a separate module “Parasitology in International Health” (PIH), that covers specifically diagnostic and parasitological aspects (including laboratory practical and extensive microscopy) and not have these topics included into CMTD also proved to works very well!
• The OMIH supplement always felt a bit misplaced in connection with CMTD, as OMIH actually focused on the medical and medico-legal aspects of (German) business travellers working abroad. We thus decided to discontinue this supplement to CMTD and offer the contents in a separate module (webinar, not tropEd accredited) instead.
• The course should keep its broad geographic orientation |
|
tropEd accreditation:
First accredited in March 2010 (Heidelberg),
Re-accredited in February 2015 (London), in January 2019 (Lisbon), in October 2020 (“Brescia”/Online), in September 2022 (Hamburg). This accreditation is valid until September 2027. |
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Remarks:
We recommend the following textbooks:
• Beeching N, Gill V. Lecture Notes Tropical Medicine. Blackwell Publishing/John Wiley & Sons, 7th edn., 2014, 411 pp.
• Rothe C. Clinical Cases in Tropical Medicine. Elsevier Saunders, 2015, 319 pp.
• Davidson Rm Brent A, Seale A. Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine. Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2014, 1010 pp. |
|
| Email Address: |
mscih-student@charite.de |
| Date Of Record Creation: |
2012-01-09 09:14:24 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Of Record Release: |
2012-01-09 15:58:03 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Record Checked: |
2020-11-04 (W3C-DTF) |
| Date Last Modified: |
2024-09-24 09:40:45 (W3C-DTF) |
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