83145 - History of Medicine

Learning outcomes

Outline the history of the medical sciences from classic times till today, focusing on the birth of morpho-functional disciplines, the concept of disease throughout the ages, and the progress of surgical and therapeutic sciences.

Course contents

Lesson 1 – Introduction and course overview. The history of medicine as cultural history: over time changes in definitions of body, health and disease in Western medicine.

Lesson 2 – The history of medicine as the social history of diseases: from the plague of Athen to Ebola. Definitions, history and development of public health.

Lesson 3 – The history of medicine as the history of a profession. The changing role of medicine and healing practices through time.

Lesson 4 – The history of medicine as the history of a science: from an “art” to the “scientific medicine”, advancements of medical technologies and therapeutics, biomedicine and its consequences.

Readings/Bibliography

A pdf of the powerpoint presentation will be available on "Insegnamenti Online" after each lecture.

Pdfs with the powerpoint presentations of the lectures will be the material to be reviewed for the written exam at the end of the course.

Suggested readings to explore further the topics covered in class:

1) A Global History of Medicine Edited by Mark Jackson. Oxford University Press, 2018

2) William Bynum. The History of Medicine: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2008

Teaching methods

Lectures with slides

Class Discussion

Attendance to learning activities is mandatory; the minimum attendance requirement to be admitted to the final exam is 60% of lessons. For Integrated Courses (IC), the 60% attendance requirement refers to the total amount of I.C. lessons. Students who fail to meet the minimum attendance requirement will not be admitted to the final exam of the course, and will have to attend relevant classes again during the next academic year.

Absences may be authorized upon receipt of proper justifying documentation, in case of illness or serious reasons. Excused absences do not count against a student’s attendance record to determine their minimum attendance requirement.

Assessment methods

Written test (for examination dates, see almaesami.unibo.it)

Instructions for the written test

The test consists of 4-choice questions. Only one answer is correct. There are no penalties for wrong or blank answers.

The test must be completed in 45 minutes.

Module CFU Questions

History of Medicine 1 4

Ethics and Behavioural Sciences 2 8

Medical Statistics and Epidemiology 2 8

Scientific Research Methodology 1 4

Determinant of Health and Disease 2 8

Number of right answers Marks

31/32 30L

30 30

29 29

28 28

27 27

26 26

25 25

24 24

23 23

22 22

21 21

20 20

19 19

18 18

<18 Fail

≥18 and 0 right answers in any module: Fail

Grade acceptance/refusal

Grades are published within 3 days on AlmaEsami.

Exam marks are published within 3 days on AlmaEsami.
The student can refuse the marks within 5 days from publication by emailing Prof. Rucci (paola.rucci2@unibo.it). All refusals must be sent from the institutional email address @studio.unibo.it
After 6 days from publication the acceptance will be taken for granted and the exam will be recorded.

Teaching tools

• Power point presentations.
• Critical readings of historical sources
• Presentation of short movies
• Visit to the "Luigi Cattaneo" Anatomical Wax Model Museum of Bologna
  
  
  

Office hours

See the website of Annagiulia Gramenzi