The course is inter-departmental and is conducted in the sixth year of the integrated undergraduate and graduate programs of study of medicine in Croatian and English language.
The seat of the Course Council is in the Andrija Štampar School of Public Health.
The head of the Course council is Associate Professor Vera Musil, MD, PhD, specialist in school medicine (Department of Social Medicine and Organization of Health Care).
The aim of the Community Health course is to train students to understand and develop a positive attitude towards the importance and role of the community in the health and illness of an individual. The course is based on the approach in medical education that the basic field of activity and work of the doctor is the community, not the clinic and the laboratory. During classes, students gain insight into the treatment of patients in all stages of the disease (from the initial contact with the health system in primary health care, through diagnostics, therapy, home visits, inspections at the workplace, to recovery and rehabilitation). Students participate in the health education, epidemiological and ecological surveys, and public health research and interventions. With the aim of getting acquainted with the life of a community, a tour of the historical, cultural, economic, natural, and other landmarks of the area where the practical exercises are carried out is also included.
Classes are organized in block rotations. The block consists of seminars and practical exercises in the area of the Vukovar-Srijem County and Požega-Slavonia County. The practicals are carried out in health centres, public health institutes, general county hospitals, schools, kindergartens, retirement homes, social welfare institutions, and in the field (visits to patients with the outpatient health care service, visits to beneficiaries of community support projects, public health researches and interventions).
Teaching staff is from departments at the Andrija Štampar School of Public Health: Department of Social Medicine and Organization of Health Care, Department of Medical Statistics, Epidemiology, and Medical Informatics, Department of Environmental Health, Occupational and Sports Medicine, and Department of Medical Sociology and Health Economics.