- It is extremely gratifying that the excellent cooperation between the four medical schools has resulted in this new textbook. The joint work of the experts of the institutions has been successful in other subjects as well, as several publications have been produced in recent years and are used uniformly in teaching at all universities," emphasised László Mátyus, Dean of the Faculty of General Medicine at the University of Debrecen.
Until now, there was no textbook on preventive medicine and public health that could be used in universities to define the profession and the knowledge expected of medical doctors in a uniform way.
- This was a problem in itself, but this lack also expressed the fact that there is a medical discipline with an uncertain background in our country. Public health departments in universities are trying to change this. The university boards have renewed the Degree in Preventive Medicine and Public Health and accredited the Licence in Lifestyle Medicine and Prevention. As part of this effort, a new textbook on Preventive Medicine and Public Health has been published," said János Sándor, Director of the Institute of Public Health and Epidemiology at the Faculty of General Medicine, University of Debrecen.
The textbook project was coordinated by the University of Debrecen and edited by Professor János Sándor. From the institute, the authors included Margit Balázs, Éva Bíró, Judit Diószegi, Szilvia Fiatal, Károly Nagy, Anita Pálinkás, Péter Pikó, Sándor Szűcs, Orsolya Varga, Ferenc Vincze and Balázs Ádám, who is currently working abroad.
- A significant number of medical doctors now understand that as future doctors they will have a role to play in ensuring that if the country's population does not benefit from the services of preventive medicine and public health, the terrible statistics of preventable mortality in Hungary will remain. Reversely, if this situation can be changed and the country's public health indicators can improve, people will live longer and healthier lives in Hungary. We hope that the textbook can support this change of attitude. This was the intention of the authors," said Professor János Sándor.
The textbook has been created as a free online learning resource, available for download to anyone from Medicina eBooks. The publication will also be useful for teaching in public health split training courses. The integration into the Master's degree curriculum is led by Helga Bárdos, Associate Professor at the Institute of Public Health and Epidemiology.
The Institute of Public Health and Epidemiology is continuously working on the renewal of the subject of preventive medicine and public health. Among other things, the time-consuming and knowledge-poor plant visits have been removed from the training and replaced by in-house produced films and related reading material to be processed independently; the interactive nature of classroom lectures has been improved by the use of test questions on smartphones, which are also included in the bonus system, thus significantly improving the attendance of lectures.
The institute has also included modules on support in tobacco cessation and minimal intervention practices to reduce alcohol consumption. In response to student feedback, a module on the methodology of medical activity to increase physical activity is currently being developed. János Sándor said: "It was a confirmation of their work that last year's medical graduates were very positive about their educational development activities.
Press Centre - CzA
A new textbook on Preventive Medicine and Public Health for medical students and students of other health sciences has been produced with the collaboration of experts from the University of Debrecen. It is the first standard textbook on preventive medicine and public health to be used in the four national medical schools for many years.
