Review by
Nivedya S Nambiar, 2023(BTech.)
Course Offered In
Autumn 2022
Instructors
Prof. Nivethida T., Prof V. P. Soni
Prerequisites
BB 101
Difficulty
3/5 Moderately difficult course
Course Content
The following topics were covered in the course -
Prof Nivethida T.:
- Membrane physiology
- Muscle physiology
- Organisation of the nervous system
- Somatosensory system
- Motor system
- Visual system
- Auditory system
- Cardiovascular system, cardiac prostheses and ECG
- Hemodynamics
- Renal system
Prof V. P. Soni
- Immune system
- Acid base balance
- Endocrine system
- Metabolism
- Respiratory system
- Digestive system
Feedback on Lectures
The lectures were all heavy in content and theoretical for the most part. Prof Nivethida’s module had formula based computations in the examinations while Prof Soni’s module was entirely theoretical. Following the lectures was especially important for Prof Nivethida’s module as the concepts would be difficult to grasp if one relied solely on the lecture slides. Additional practice questions and resources were handed out in ungraded assignments the answer keys to which were shared later, for Prof Nivethida’s module. Attendance of 80% was mandatory for the classes and examinations. The instructor occasionally conducted additional tutorial sessions for doubt clearing apart from the weekly classes.
Feedback on Evaluations
- 20% Quizzes (2)
- 30% Midsem
- 50% Endsem
Absolute grading was followed and an AA required >90%, while 81-90% for AB, 71-80% for BB and so on. The passing percentage was 35%. The quizzes and examinations relied mostly on the lecture content and the assignment questions. The examinations included a mix of objective and descriptive questions. The course heavily relies on rote learning for the most part.
Study Material and References
- Guyton & Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology, 12th Edn.
- Joseph Feher, Quantitative Human Physiology – an introduction, 2nd Edn.
- K Sembulingam & Prema Sembulingam, Essentials of Medical Physiology, 6th Edn.
Final Takeaways
This course is suitable for students who wish to focus on the aspect of health informatics dealing with foundations of healthcare. The volume of new medical terms that the course introduces can be a little overwhelming and might need a couple of revisions before the examinations, given the volume of theory that needs to be covered for each module.
Grading Statistics:
