Search    Print

Humanities and Scientific English - C.I. (II ANNO)
STEFANIA FORTUNA

Seat Medicina e Chirurgia
A.A. 2017-2018
Credits 7
Hours 70
Period 1^ semestre
Language ENG
U-gov code MU01-09-11 LS113

Prerequisites

 

 

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding of the evolution of medicine from ancient civilization to the
twentieth century, anthropological theories, physiological and pathological topics, charitable
organizations, educational scientists and doctors who have been protagonists in the last recent
years (Prof. Fortuna); conceptual system of modern medicine and the language of science in
English specially referred to medicine-related vocabulary from basic notions to clinical ones (Prof.
Barchiesi).
The ability to apply knowledge and understanding of the ongoing procedures from a theoreticalscientific
viewpoint to various fields of medicine, from research to clinical settings, from
experimentation to bioethics, raising awareness of the changes and errors whose events people
are naturally exposed to (Prof. Fortuna); the content of any medical-scientific publication, from
basic disciplines to medical subjects through actual acknoledgement of contemporary clinical
terminology (Prof. Barchiesi).
Transverse competences of cultural nature, interpretative deduction and communicative language
use along with fundamental vocabulary, both applied to science and research (Prof. Fortuna and
Prof. Barchiesi)

Program

mod. HISTORY OF MEDICINE

Prof.ssa S. Fortuna

The topics of lectures are organized according to chronological and thematic criteria. Ample
space is devoted to ancient medicine: the Homeric myths, the cult of Asklepios, literature from
Hippocrates to Galen, including the philosophers' contribution to anthropology, biology, anatomy
and epistemology whose topics can be addressed to the crisis and rebirth of medicine, from its
birth to Middle Ages, with the takeoff of universities and health institutions: hospitals, centres for
treating leprosy. The return to Greek medical care, Hippocrates and Galen, which characterizes
the last decades of the fifteenth century, is considered as a premise for the great achievements
seen in the sixteenth century, firstly with the new human anatomy of Andreas Vesalius opposite
to the animal one proposed by Galen. The seventeenth century marks the first biological
revolution and the passage from qualitative medicine to quantitative one. A representative book,
the “De Motu Cordis” by William Harvey is a proposed reading with comment.
During lectures some aspects of medicine in subsequent centuries are then selected: from
microscopic anatomy to Claude Bernard's physiology and Rudolf Virchow's cellular pathology;
from miasmatic theory to that of germs by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch's bacteriological
postulates; history of hospitals, from admission to treatment, also thanks to the development of
surgery; origin to overcoming of mental health asylums. At least two lectures, the final ones, are
devoted to a topic given that can change each year and which is a fundamental part of the review
programme.

 

mod. SCIENTIFIC ENGLISH

Dott. M. Barchiesi

Overview of healthcare in the UK: stepping into the NHS.

Development of the examination

• Final assessment

The exam consists of a written test which is compulsory for both disciplines and is usually made
up of 30 open questions.

• Assessment criteria

They are identified by three key variables: level of learning, marking standards and student
achievement characterised by different grades.

• Student achievement by marking descriptors and qualification descriptors

From exceptional when it is top score (30) to inadequate (not pass) for History of Medicine and
Medical Clinical English, that is to say limited knowledge of key issues related to content (pts 4-
8), common grammatical mistakes (pts 2-4), unsatisfactory development of conceptual structures
(pts 0,50-1) whose points are subtracted from 30.

• Assessment mark criteria

Average mark obtained in written tests for each discipline is equal in value to final assessment
mark whose result the student is awarded with (30 'cum laude' for top score in both disciplines).

Recommended reading

Prof.ssa Stefania Fortuna

• R. Porter, Breve ma veridica storia della medicina occidentale, Roma, Carocci, 2011.

Prof. Mauro Barchiesi

• Crash Course: Ethics and Human Science by Morris, Edwards and Porter, Imprint: Mosby.
• Netter Anatomy Charts, Comlete set of 20 Charts, by Frank Netter, Imprint Saunders, 2008.
• The Good Grammar book by Michael Swan and Catherine Walter, Iprint OUP.
• Any medical clinical dictionary available.

Courses

• Medicina e Chirurgia