Students in this online emergency preparedness master's degree program will complete 36 credit hours of graduate-level coursework.
The program is offered as two different tracks. Students must choose only one track:
- A practice based track
- An academic based track
Practice Track:
Total credits required - 36 credit hours
- Required Courses (24 credit hours)
- HPRO 810: Emergency Preparedness: Prevent
- EPI 811: Emergency Preparedness: Protect
- HPRO 812: Emergency Preparedness: Respond
- HPRO 813: Emergency Preparedness: Respond and Recover
- HPRO 830: Foundations of Public Health
- EPI 820: Introduction to Epidemiology
- EPI 825: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
- CRCJ 8800: Terrorism (or equivalent) – University of Nebraska at Omaha
- Two electives as approved by the student’s advisory committee (6 credit hours)
- Master’s Thesis (6 credit hours)
Academic Track:
Total Credits required - 36 credit hours
- Required Courses (30 credit hours):
- HPRO 810: Emergency Preparedness: Prevent
- EPI 811: Emergency Preparedness: Protect
- HPRO 812: Emergency Preparedness: Respond
- HPRO 813: Emergency Preparedness: Respond and Recover
- HPRO 830: Foundations of Public Health
- EPI 820: Introduction to Epidemiology
- EPI 825: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
- BIOS 806: Biostatistics I
- HPRO 805: Applied Research in Public Health
- CRCJ 8230: Terrorism (or equivalent) – University of Nebraska at Omaha
- Master’s Thesis (6 credit hours): The thesis proposal must be approved by the student’s Advisory Committee. The thesis work should reveal a capacity to carry on independent study or research and should demonstrate the student’s ability to use the techniques employed in the field of investigation. The thesis must conform to the style accepted at UNMC. Examples may be viewed at the McGoogan Library of Medicine.
- The thesis must be presented in final form to the student’s Advisory Committee at least two weeks before the date for the candidate’s final oral examination (defense of thesis). A candidate shall not be eligible for the defense until the thesis is completed and approved by the thesis supervisor.
- When the thesis defense has been completed successfully, one copy of the thesis must be supplied to the major department and two copies must be deposited in the McGoogan Library of Medicine. To meet requirements for completion of the degree in a given semester, the approved thesis and evidence of the successful defense must be in the Graduate Studies Office one week before the end of the semester.
Biostatistics I
BIOS 806
3
Prerequisite: Undergraduate or graduate statistics course or permission of instructor.
This course is designed to prepare the graduate student to understand and apply biostatistical methods needed in the design and analysis of biomedical and public health investigations. The major topics to be covered include types of data, descriptive statistics and plots, theoretical distributions, probability, estimation, hypothesis testing, and one-way analysis of variance. A brief introduction to correlation and univariate linear regression will also be given. The course is intended for graduate students and health professionals interested in the design and analysis of biomedical or public health studies.
Terrorism
CRCJ 8230
3
A course devoted to an exploration and analysis of contemporary special problems in the broad spectrum of law enforcement and corrections.
Emergency Preparedness: Protection
EPI 811/CPH 631
3
This course is designed to prepare the graduate student to work in fields where emergency preparedness and response skills are essential to the public health infrastructure, in preparation for naturally occurring disasters, intentional acts of terrorism and new emerging infectious disease threats. Major topics to be covered include an introduction to Critical Infrastructure Protection (Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 7), agriculture defense and the history of emerging infectious disease. Students will then explore various protection agencies and initiatives to include the BIOSENSE Program, culminating in an overview of surveillance and detection.
Introduction to Epidemiology
EPI 820/CPH 504
3
The objective of the course is to understand the application of survey and research methodology in epidemiology, especially in the community setting. Theoretical aspects will be taught as an integral part of understanding the techniques of study design and community survey. Concepts to be covered include measure of disease occurrence, measures of disease risk, study design, assessment of alternative explanations for data-based findings, and methods of testing or limiting alternatives. Students will be expected to address an epidemiological question of interest to them, first developing the hypothesis and conducting a literature search, then developing a study design and writing, in several stages, a brief proposal for the study.
Infectious Disease Epidemiology
EPI 825/CPH 623
3
This course is an introductory, generic course which presents basic infectious disease epidemiology principles and methods. The purpose of the course is to introduce students to concepts of epidemiology as they relate to infectious disease. Students who wish to know how to conduct population studies in infectious disease will be better prepared through this course. This course will produce graduates from UNMC who are better prepared to meet the challenges of infectious disease. Public health is a cornerstone for healthy living, and improving the health of communities is its broad-based goal. Dealing with infectious disease is intricately related to this goal. Prerequisites: EPI 820/CPH 504; Introduction to Epidemiology
Applied Research in Public Health
HPRO 805
3
This course will assist students to develop the basic skills to conduct applied research to address contemporary problems in public health. The course will emphasize proposal writing, data collection, research design, statistical analysis, computer application, and writing of research reports. Unique problems associated with data collection in public health settings such as public health departments, neighborhood health centers, and community-based organizations will be addressed. Both quantitative and qualitative research designs will be explored. Considerable emphasis is placed on evaluation of public health research published in scholarly publications. A research proposal/capstone service- learning proposal is written as one of the course requirements.
Emergency Preparedness: Prevention
HPRO 810
3
This course is designed to prepare the graduate student to work in a world where emergency preparedness and response skills are essential to the public health infrastructure, in preparation for naturally occurring disasters, intentional acts of terrorism and new emerging infectious disease threats. Major topics to be covered include an introduction to the National Response Framework, the Incident Command System (ICS) and the history of federal disaster legislation. Students will then explore various response agencies and initiatives to include the Strategic National Stockpile Program, culminating in an overview of risk assessment, disaster planning and the process of exercising disaster plans.
Emergency Preparedness: Respond
HPRO 812
3
This course is designed to prepare the graduate student to work in fields where emergency preparedness and response skills are essential to the public health infrastructure, in preparation for naturally occurring disasters, intentional acts of terrorism and new emerging infectious disease threats. The course curriculum is designed to be reflective and inclusive of current and nationally endorsed competencies and focuses on topic areas related to the actual
response to an event. Major topics to be covered include an introduction to on-site incident management, responder safety and health, animal disease emergency response, mass sheltering, citizen evacuation, and weapons of mass destruction (WMD), culminating in an overview of mass casualty triage and medical system surge.
Emergency Preparedness: Respond and Recover
HPRO 813
3
The course curriculum is designed to be reflective and inclusive of current and nationally endorsed competencies and focuses on topic areas related to the response to and recovery from an event. Major topics to be covered include a review and in-depth look at medical surge, mass immunization/dispensing, behavioral health, and mass fatalities culminating in an overview of short term and long term recovery concepts inherent to restoring economic, health, vital infrastructure, and community services.
Foundations of Public Health
HPRO 830
3
This is an introductory survey course, which will ensure that all public health students, within their first full year of study, are exposed to the fundamental concepts and theories that provide the basis for the body of knowledge in the field of public health. This course will prepare students to work in public health with a sound theoretical, conceptual, and historical basis for their work.