Philadelphia University MS in Disaster Medicine and Management

Just thought I would pass this along. In writing a paper I came across this school in a search. I see almost nothing about it here on the site, except for some references to it many years ago. I have no idea what type of utility it would offer but the title of the degree stood out for sure. Anyway, just thought I would offer it up for discussion. :smile:

Philadelphia University's Disaster Medicine and Management Program

 

No one has any thoughts about this program? I'll throw mine out there. The name by itself seems to give the impression that it's some sort of medical degree (I'm not suggesting med school, nursing school, etc.), but the curriculum is very similar to what you would find in other EM/HLS and even some MPH programs. So my question then becomes, does the name "Disaster Medicine" in the title help it stand out beyond the current field of EM/HLS master's degrees? If so what utility would this degree have in the medical field?

 

I remember looking at this one a couple of years ago and quickly forgetting about it after seeing the tuition rates.

 

After looking at the curriculum, I do not see any utility that this degree would offer over any of the common EM/HLS degrees out there. It does not contain the level of depth on medical curriculum that you would see in a public health program. While the name is designed to address a niche, the curriculum is nothing unique. I do not think this would provide any advantage for someone in EM/HLS or in public health over a more commonly named program.

We had this same discussion on another thread on the chocie of the name for the University of Washington's - Master's in Infrastructure Management and Planning program. Personally, I think UW got it right with their name because if you look at the HLS degrees out there, many of them are focused on parts of the equation like response, terrorism, WMD, etc. The MIPM is focused on infrastructure protection which what the efforts in securing the homeland should be focused on.

 

I agree with you that it's a basic EM/HLS program with a really catchy title. It could be a great program too, but nothing about the curriculum stands out.