Laboratory medicine - Microbiology

The course Laboratory Medicine- Medical Microbiology deals with topics such as normal flora, epidemiology and infection control, human pathogens and infectious diseases from various human systems; Digestive and neurological infections, Infections of the cardiovascular system, Respiratory tract infections, Urinary tract infections, Sexually transmitted and gynecological infections. The course focuses on pathogens and diagnostics, which include the detection, identification and characterization of microorganisms and viruses. The course deals with bacteriology, mycology, parasitology and virology. Bacteriological examinations by culture, biochemical analyzes and resistance determination. Molecular biological methods are in addition to established methods for detection, identification and resistance determination.

In laboratory medicine microbiology, you will immerse yourself in microbiology, and learn more about microbiology as a field, and how various pathogenic microorganisms and viruses are spread in society, what infectious diseases they can cause and what prophylactic measures exist, with a particular focus on the Norwegian healthcare system.

The subject consists of three parts;

1. Lectures and student work with syllabus

2. Scientific writing training and literature search

3. Laboratory course

You will experience more focus on student active learning and relevance to working life. The lectures will be a mix of interactive digital resources and classroom lectures. The aim is for you to work more with the syllabus during the semester. The exam is a portfolio exam, which consists of individual written work. You will work on the exam in parallel with scientific writing training, which will both teach you how to write a scientific paper and how to convey subject knowledge and use subject terminology correctly. This is also preparation for how to write a bachelor's thesis next semester. The laboratory course is divided into three parts, where you deal with urine samples, respiratory infections and gynecological samples separately. For each part of the course, there will be a preparatory part, three days of practical laboratory work and a presentation of results. The groups must present their results to their fellow students. Each group presents from a laboratory part.

Knowledge - the student:

• Has knowledge of the body's normal biochemical processes, biological variations and processes that reflect disease in the subject areas of microbiology
• Has knowledge of current infectious diseases know about research and development in these subject areas
• Has knowledge of relevant analysis techniques for detecting bacteriological and viral pathogens

Skills - the student:

• Develop knowledge that constitutes criteria for selection of analyzes and assessment of analysis quality could master professional tools, ie analysis instruments and biochemical methods used in microbiology, as well as master how analytical results are communicated
• Are able to assess information about methods and analytical instruments, for example by means of manuals and procedure descriptions, could assess the medical probability of a test result, ie analysis quality in relation to a medical problem.
• Can carry out analysis of different types of sample materials from microbiological laboratory.

Competence - the student:

• Should be able to discuss with other professionals a professional holistic thinking across main subjects and be able to stay up to date on key knowledge within the subject area
• Must be able to apply knowledge and use results from research and development work on practical issues and they must be able to make reasoned choices, eg when assessing test results in these subject areas.
• Are able to reflect on own professional practice, for example be able to see sources of error in the various analysis methods document the quality of laboratory technical procedures and laboratory instruments
• Can participate actively in discussions when conducting laboratory exercises, have an understanding of and overview of procedures to be carried out for specific laboratory exercises, take an active part in carrying out practical work and show initiative to discuss interpretation of analysis results to develop an understanding of the subject.

The course has a workload of approx. 200 hours, where organized teaching acitivties constitues: up to 8 x 2 hours of lectures, up to 40 hours of scientific writing training and literature search, 3 laboratory weeks with one main theme for each laboratory week, assessment of practical skills after each laboratory week as a compulsory prerequisite.

Laboratory course is mandatory.