Educational offer - University of Padova

Syllabus

Prerequisites:	Have a thorough knowledge of exercise physiology and basic knowledge of functional assessment. It is also required to understand and practice scientific English during interactive class activities.
Target skills and knowledge:	Knowledge/understandings: appreciate the importance of a comprehensive assessment of cardiorespiratory function, strength and balance, for its ability of carrying fundamental diagnostic and prognostic information, as well as for exercise and training prescription. Understand the principles of cardiorespiratory, strength and balance assessment and the main changes that are associated with different conditions in health and disease. Skills/abilities: Apply principles of exercise physiology within the interpretation of a cardiopulmonary exercise test. Demonstrate the ability to identify the main alterations of cardiorespiratory function, strength and balance, and to associate them to typical physiological and/or pathological conditions. Learn to use simple instruments for clinical monitoring of patients and show the capability to perform or cooperate in the execution of specific functional tests. Competencies: Learn to use principles of exercise physiology and functional evaluation in clinical practice. Develop competencies of professional communication in the healthcare setting and with an international language. Improve transversal competencies of problem solving and team working.
Examination methods:	Students will be required to analyse, interpret, evaluate and comment data of a functional evaluation carried out in healthy subjects and patients with chronic diseases. Intermediate formative assessments will analyse the students’ learning and will permit teacher and students to adapt the approach to this course. Also the students’ course participation will be evaluated.
Assessment criteria:	The final grade will be determined by both the finale exam and active class participation. The teacher will provide timely and adequate feedback after the exam, which will consider the students’ knowledge, specific abilities and transversal competencies.
Course unit contents:	This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of and the ability to perform non-invasive analysis of cardiopulmonary adaptations during physical exercise. Furthermore, skills in strength and balance testing and interpretation will be addressed for a comprehensive diagnostic and functional evaluation. Finally, it is aimed to improve transversal competencies in professional communication, problem solving and team working.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods:	The course content will be presented through lectures, small group discussions, interactive learning, problem solving, clinical case discussions, and also through activities in the laboratory. This course will be characterized by a student-centred approach and active engagement of students also during class activities. Therefore, the class participation is an important component of this course.
Additional notes about suggested reading:	There is no textbook required for this course. The didactic resources consist in the students’ notes of the class activities, the book chapters and papers listed below and the materials provided by the instructor. The students are also expected to be able to search and critically-review recent literature and are thus responsible for gaining access to peer-reviewed sources via online databases or University library holdings. The online platform Moodle will be used for sharing and discussing didactic issues and material.
Textbooks (and optional supplementary readings)	The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), ACSM’S guidelines for exercise testing and prescription. --: --, --. Australian Institute of Sport Rebecca Tanner, Christopher Gore, Physiological Tests for Elite Athletes. --: Human Kinetics, 2013. 2nd Edition Reiman M, Manske R., Functional Testing in Human Performance. --: Human Kinetics, 2009. Maud PJ, Foster C., Physiological assessment of human fitness. --: Human Kinetics, 2006. 2nd Edition Wasserman K., Principles of exercise testing and interpretation. Including pathophysiology and clinical applications.. --: --, --. Belardinelli R., Il test da sforzo cardiopolmonare – Manuale di interpretazione.. --: --, --.