Certificate in Social Medicine

Growing national and international trends call for better educational and training frameworks to define requirements, apply principles, teach processes, and measure the competency of physicians. The Certificate in Social Medicine is designed to address these needs and enhance the learning experiences for residents to achieve program competencies. Medical residents and program directors will collaborate with their knowledge and skills working together in this graduate-level program.

Gainful Employment Information

ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS

The Graduate Certificate Program in Social Medicine evaluates the overall quality of applicants, including academic achievement, personal motivation, knowledge about the public health profession, health care and life experiences, and recommendations.

Criteria for admission to the certificate program are as follows:

• Applicant must hold a Bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree from a regionally accredited college or university.
• Cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale is preferred.
• Applicants enrolled in another area of study within Nova Southeastern University must be in good academic standing and provide a letter of recommendation from the dean or program director of that program.
• All application materials must be received in a timely manner.
• Health care-related experience is desirable but not required. 
• If the applicant does not hold a health-related graduate or professional degree, evidence of having taken the GRE, PCAT, OAT, AHPAT, MCAT, DAT, GMAT, or LSAT must be provided. Applicants’ scores from these standardized tests must be no more than five years old.
• Applicants with health-related graduate or professional degrees may be required to submit official test scores upon evaluation of their applications.

CURRICULUM 

Students will complete five courses (3 credits each) for a total of 15 credits.

Public Health Concentration (choose one)

• Biostatistics
• Epidemiology
• Health Policy Planning and Management
• Public Health Program Planning and Evaluation

Biomedical Informatics Concentration (choose one)

• Consumer Health Informatics
• Lean Six Sigma for Health Care
• Information Technologies in Medicine and Telehealth
• Management Information Systems in Health Care
• Public Health Informatics
• Survey of Medical Informatics

Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Concentration (choose one)

• Community Disaster Preparedness
• Community Planning, Response, and Recovery for Families and Children
• Epidemiology of Disasters
• Foundations of Public Health
• Public Health Issues in Disaster and Emergency Management

Elective (choose a second course from any of the previous concentrations) 

Global Health Experience (complete all requirements listed below)

• PUH 5314 (Global Health)
• 30 hours of approved community service
• Participation in one NSU-COM medical outreach program

CONTINUATION OF STUDY

At the completion of the Graduate Certificate Program in Social Medicine, students will have completed course offerings that can be applied to a master’s degree in any of the following three programs:

• Master of Public Health
• Master of Biomedical Informatics
• Master of Science in Disaster and Emergency Management

Students must follow the application process for the respective chosen program, but the credits earned for the courses taken in earning the certificate will be transferred to the degree program.

TUITION AND FEES

Tuition for 2016-17 is $560 per credit hour.  A Health Professions Division general access fee of $145 is required each year. An NSU student services fee of $350 per semester for two or more courses and $175 per semester for one course, not to exceed $1,050 annually are also required.