Looking over the conceptual horizon : a living-theory of practice

Abstract

This paper explores the conceptualisation and implementation of public health in a medical curriculum in South Africa. Society’s health needs to extend beyond treating the individual and the ill. However, healthy populations are of little interest for medical students and so population health – public health – is over the conceptual horizon of medical students. In this paper I aim to explain my journey in exploring my educational practice of facilitating learning about public health in our medical curriculum and share my insights of the context of my practice. My inquiry is an exploration of my values of care and agency and I create meaning of my practice through a Living Theory approach to action research. This paper introduces the multiple concurrent understanding of public health, educational tensions, constraints and points of connection between medicine and public health in the curriculum. I share my innovative practice in using the elective experience to challenge the notion that public health is over the conceptual horizon of medical students. On the contrary, public health is an eye-­‐opener and it is other conceptual horizons that obscure meaningful engagement with medical students around public health.