Allied Health
18 courses · Orange Coast College · 2026-2027 Catalog
Classes: Fall 2026 · Spring 2027
ALH A010 Health Occupations
- Units
- 0.5
- Hours
- 16 lecture hours
Introduction to the allied health careers and programs at Orange Coast College including presentations of each allied health program and School of Allied Health Professions application. Required for admission to most allied health programs.
ALH A012 Health Occupations for Dental and Medical Assisting
- Units
- 0.5
- Hours
- 9 lecture hours
Introduction to the Dental Assisting and Medical Assisting programs at Orange Coast College. Presentations of Dental Assisting and Medical Assisting allied health program and School of Allied Health Professions application. This course will only address Dental Assisting and Medical Assisting. Required for admission to those allied health programs. Dental assisting and Medical Assisting. Will also accept ALH A010 in place of this course.
ALH A111 Medical Terminology
- Units
- 3
- Hours
- 54 lecture hours
- Advisory
- BIOL A221.
- Transfers to
- CSU
Development of a medical vocabulary emphasizing building of terms utilizing prefixes, combining forms and suffixes. Includes symptomatic, therapeutic, diagnostic, operative and related diagnostic testing terms. Students learn the meaning and spelling of medical terms with application of terms to comprehend medical record documents. Enrollment Limitation: KIN A102; students who complete ALH A111 may not enroll in or receive credit for KIN A102.
ALH A112 Introduction to Autism Spectrum Disorders and Applied Behavioral Analysis
- Units
- 2
- Hours
- 36 lecture hours
- Transfers to
- CSU
This course will provide an overview of the foundations of Autism Spectrum Disorder in children, Applied Behavioral Analysis treatment, and evidence-based intervention for treatment. This will include collecting Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence ABC data, and learning operations to increase/strengthen behavior and weaken/decrease behavior. Enrollment Limitation: CDE A112/SLPA A112; students who complete ALH A112 may not enroll in or receive credit for CDE A112 or SLPA A112.
ALH A115 Patient Care
- Units
- 2
- Hours
- 27 lecture hours; 27 lab hours
- Prerequisite
- ALH A010 or A012; ALH A111 or concurrent enrollment.
- Advisory
- Non-native speakers must complete ESL A051 (exemption based on assessment results).
- Transfers to
- CSU
This course must be taken within six months prior to first clinical entry. Content orients students to the fundamentals of patient care and presents foundational elements essential to healthcare professionals practicing in a clinical setting including communication, assessment of vital signs, medical asepsis, body mechanics for lifting and moving patients, legal & ethical issues, finance, review of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, presentation of common medical emergencies and basic interventions, introduction to oxygen cylinders and devices, airway suctioning, aspects of death and dying, and the future of healthcare. Mandatory pre-clinical HIPAA, blood-borne pathogen, and hazardous materials training and documentation completed.
ALH A120 Human Diseases
- Units
- 2
- Hours
- 36 lecture hours
- Advisory
- ALH A111 or KIN A102 and BIOL A221.
- Transfers to
- CSU
The study of disease processes and diseases affecting each body system. Includes etiology, pathophysiological mechanisms, methods of diagnosis, manifestations, and treatment of each disease. Recent completion of human anatomy and physiology is recommended before attempting this class.
ALH A130 Applied Pharmacology
- Units
- 3
- Hours
- 54 lecture hours
- Advisory
- BIOL A221.
- Transfers to
- CSU
Basic principles of pharmacology; drug classifications; methods and routes of administration; legal aspects of drug administration; pharmacokinetics: action, indication, contraindication, hazards, metabolism, and excretion. Use of drugs in the treatment of various disease processes and body systems.
ALH A199 Current Issues in Allied Health
- Units
- 0.5
- Hours
- 9 lecture hours
- Transfers to
- CSU
This course deals with current issues in the allied health profession. Topics vary.
ALH A001N Personal Care Aide I: Foundational Knowledge, Attitudes and Skills Non-Credit
- Hours
- 18 lecture hours; 18 lab hours
- Advisory
- Identification required on first day of class; No felony convictions.
This course will provide students with the education needed to meet the skills required to provide personal care services to elders and to consumers with disabilities in a home setting. Topics include Qualities of a Direct Care Worker; Work Settings; Teamwork and Professionalism; Working with Elders; Respecting Differences; Communication Skills; Working with a Consumer Who Is Depressed; Infection Control; Body Systems and Common Diseases and Body Mechanics. NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE.
ALH A002N Personal Care Aide II: Person Centered Care Noncredit
- Hours
- 12 lecture hours; 15 lab hours
- Prerequisite
- ALH A001N or concurrent enrollment.
- Advisory
- Identification required on first day of class; No felony convictions.
This course will provide students with the education needed to meet the skills required to provide personal care services to elders and to consumers with disabilities in a home setting. Topics include Qualities of a Direct Care Worker; Work Settings; Teamwork and Professionalism; Working with Elders; Respecting Differences; Communication Skills; Working with a Consumer Who Is Depressed; Infection Control; Body Systems and Common Diseases and Body Mechanics. NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE.
ALH A003N First Aid and CPR/AED for Personal Care Aid Noncredit
- Hours
- 3 lecture hours; 6 lab hours
- Prerequisite
- ALH A002N or concurrent enrollment.
Techniques and theory of cardiopulmonary resuscitation will be covered and demonstrated. Completion qualifies the student for the American Heart Association Professional Rescuer CPR/AED certification. NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE.
ALH A004N Professional Writing for Health and Consumer Science - Noncredit
- Hours
- 4.5-9 lecture hours
This class will support the development of writing skills for the science professional. Students will learn standard formats and expressions appropriate for their profession. Students will also work on writing related to the presentation of capstone projects. NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE.
ALH A005N Computational Skills for Consumer and Health Sciences I Noncredit
- Hours
- 4.5-9 lecture hours
This course reviews and practices the basic operations of computations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as applied to specific job skills/tasks in allied health professions/occupations. Medical assisting and respiratory care (to name two examples) require calculations involving multiple elements, students need to understand basic computational concepts to successfully calculate dosage (medical assisting) or volumes (respiratory care). NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE.
ALH A006N Computational Skills for Consumer and Health Sciences II Noncredit
- Hours
- 4.5-9 lecture hours
This course reviews the Order of Operations as it applies to various uses with the allied health professions, an example would be using Order of Operations to determine quality assurance for fluoroscopy units within a radiology suite. The equation uses a baseline value against an acquired value; nmA/bmAXnkVp 2/bkVp2. Within the allied health professions there are a multitude of formulas that need to be solved; for example, in respiratory care, the alveolar gas equation; medical assisting requires students to be able to calculate drips per minute based on solution strength. NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE.
ALH A007N Computational Skills for Consumer and Health Sciences III Noncredit
- Hours
- 4.5-9 lecture hours
This course covers measurement fundamentals and scientific notation in the allied health sciences to allow for performance of specific job functions. Scientific notation is a method of recording extremely large and small values. As such, the allied health professional will need to be able to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of values using scientific notation. Converting between measurement systems. Centigrade and Fahrenheit; C = (F-32)/1.8, centimeter to inches; cm = inch/2.54, pounds to kilograms; kb = lb/2.205 to name a few. NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE.
ALH A008N Computational Skills for Consumer and Health Sciences IV Noncredit
- Hours
- 4.5-9 lecture hours
This course covers ratios and proportions required for dosage calculations, dimensional analysis, and other job-specific applications related to the allied health professions. Allied health professionals need to be able to use, like proportions, to solve problems in a variety of allied health applications. Dental Assisting and Radiologic Technology use, like proportions, to adjust exposure factors for changes in distance. Drug dosage calculations typically use ratios and proportions to solve for differences in concentrations and weight. Sonography signal intensity is calculated by determining the difference between transmitted/received signal and allowing for distance traveled. NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE.
ALH A009N Personal Care Aide III: Caregiving Skills to Assist Clients with Alzheimer's and Dementia
- Hours
- 18 lecture hours
- Advisory
- No felony convictions.
This course provides an overview of Alzheimer's and dementia including signs, symptoms, brain pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, and strategies for successful caregiving skills. It will teach students about the physical, emotional, cognitive and behavioral changes that may occur with the progression of the disease. The class will focus on important health and safety considerations for the clients as well as for the Personal Care Aide when working with someone with Alzheimer's and other types of dementia. ALH A009N is part of the Personal Care Aide Certification Program which is designed to facilitate successful entrance into the healthcare field as a Personal Care Aide. Students interested in completing the program should also register for ALH A001N and ALH A002N. Noncredit. NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE.
ALH A011N Preparation for Allied Health Programs
- Hours
- 36 lecture hours
This is a course designed to help prospective students planning to pursue an ALH program develop familiarity with language parts such as roots, suffixes and prefixes to help them be better prepared to learn medical terminology. Students will also practice elements of English pronunciation and spelling necessary for them to use medical terms. NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE.