Club de premedicina: miniescuela de medicina

About the Class:
-Each week we will discuss a medical or nursing specialty (or related fields such as physical therapy or dentistry).
-My teaching week runs Thursday through Saturday (so on Saturday, I'm covering the same topic as I was during the week and change to a new topic on the following Thursday).
-We will start with an opening question that relates to the organ/area of interest that day.
-My classes are always interactive so I encourage learners to keep their cameras on for discussion.
-We will talk about what it's like to be in a particular career (a specific type of doctor, nurse, or physical or occupational therapist or different places where someone might work), and the necessary training.
-We'll discuss the reasons someone might want to go into this career.  This will be age appropriate to the group. 
-During the class, we'll discuss the part of the body that people in the particular career care for (for example, when discussing dentistry, we'll also discuss teeth).
-We might also cover some common problems, diagnoses, procedures, exams, or other activities a professional might do in their day.
-We will watch a few minutes of a video during the class so learners can see what the working environment is actually like rather than just hear me talk about it.
-This will give us further points of discussion as we finish up our time together.
--> Learners will explore the wide variety of options available to them as well as the huge variety of helpers who take care of people!

Upcoming Topics:


2025
Week of Jan 27: Creative solutions to problems without cures (ie alien hand syndrome, rhythmic cueing for Parkinson's, 
Week of Feb 3: Occupational Therapy
Week of Feb 10: Registered Dieticians as part of the medical team
Week of Feb 17: Orthopedic surgeons and Rheumatologists treating joint problems: PT, injections, surgery, and more!
Week of Feb 24: Broken bones
Week of March 3: All the steps, tests, and big events to becoming a doctor
Week of March 10: RN, PA, NP & MD 
Week of March 17: Endocrinology
Week of March 24: Sleep (narcolepsy, sleep walking, sleep talking, and more!)
Week of March 31: How MRI vs CT vs Xray vs Ultrasound work and what they are good for
April 7: Paramedics, EMTs, and other first responders
April 14: Pharmacists and Pharmacy techs
April 21: Audiology
April 28: Flight nurses, Flight for Life, Air Transport, and more
May 5: Toxicology, Poison Control
May 12: Medical equipment doctors have in their offices
May 19: Biomedical engineers
May 26: A Day in the Life of a Neonatologist

-->Don't worry, it keeps going!  Let me know what else you want to learn. :-)



Past topics:
Pediatrics, caring for children in the hospital or community office
General surgery and cardiothoracic surgery
Medical equipment (if you have it, bring your stethoscope!)--we'll also talk about sphygmomanometers, ophthalmoscopes, otoscopes, reflex hammers, tuning forks, and other equipment
ICU Nursing
Dentistry
Parasitology and related
Immunology 
Sports Physical Therapy, keeping everyone active
Geneticist
Neurosurgery
Pharmacist
How to Diagnose Someone 
Cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery (comparing medicine vs surgery tracks)
Neonatologist
Nephrology
General surgery
Occupational Therapy (from kids to Google)
Pulmonology
Exam equipment neurologists use
Psychiatry
Radiology
Nephrology and Interventional Nephrology
Dental specialities
Anesthesiology
Family Medicine 
Autism Specialties
Neurology/Epileptology
Pathology 
Virology
Pulmonology
Anesthesiology
Speech-Language Pathologist
Optometry vs Ophthalmology
Emergency Medicine 
Dieticians
Sleep Medicine
Wilderness Medicine
Infectious Disease
March 14-20: Neurosurgery and the Brain and Spinal Cord
March 21-March 27: Geneticists and Genetics
March 28-April 3: Neonatology, Neonatal Nursing, and How Babies are Different from Kids and Grown ups
April 4-April 10: Physical therapy and muscles, bones, nerves
Week of April 11: Medical instruments 
Week of April 18: Cardiology
Week of April 25: Anesthesiology
Week of May 2: Hematology
Week of May 9: Nephrology
Week of May 16: All the tests you take to become a doctor (MCAT, USMLE, boards) and how to study
Week of May 23: Gastroenterology
Week of May 30: Dentistry
Week of June 6th: RN, PA, NP & MD 
Week of June 13th: Sutures, joint injections, spinal taps 
Week of June 20th: Pathology
Week of June 27th: Optometry vs ophthalmology 
Week of July 4: Wilderness Medicine
Week of July 11: Family Medicine
Week of July 18: ICU nursing, Equipment used in an ICU
Week of July 25: Different roles in surgery
Week of August 1: How to Diagnose Someone 
Week of August 8: Radiology 
Week of August 15: Medical care on cruise ships
Week of August 22: Nephrology vs Urology
Week of August 29: Anesthesiology
Week of September 5: Veterinarians
Week of September 12: General surgery
Week of September 19: Neurology
Week of September 26: Brain surgery
Week of October 3: Pediatrics
Week of October 7: Speech-Language Pathology
Week of October 14: Dental Specialties
Week of Oct 21: Technology in medicine (robotic surgery, remote patient monitoring, 3d printing, improved communication between doctors, virtual visits for patients, patient portals)
Week of Oct 30: NICU
Week of Nov 6: Strokes
Week of Nov 13: Geneticist
Week of Nov 20: Eye surgeries
Week of Nov 27: Radiology techs, Medical assistants, and others who need 2 years or less of training
Week of Dec 4: All the people who care for patients with seizures
Week of Dec 11: Labwork, what it is and what it means and why it's done
Week of Dec 18: All the other people who work in a hospital to keep it running
Week of Dec 25: Dermatology and Dermatopathology

2023

Week of Jan 1: Otolaryngology
Week of Jan 8: Physical medicine and rehabilitation and physical therapy
Week of Jan 15: Public health
Week of Jan 22: Urology
Week of January 29: Medical language
Week of February 5: The parts of a hospital and how they work together 
Week of February 12: Gastroenterology
Week Feb 19: Cardiovascular surgery (esp vessels and valves)
Week of February 26: Anesthesia
Week of March 5: All the different kinds of surgeons
Week of March 12: The Scientific Method
Week of March 19: Caring for sensory systems (sense of temperature, pain, visual, smell, taste, hearing, balance)
Week of March 26: How to take a patient history
Week of April 3: Technology in medicine
Week of April 10:  How to write a SOAP note
Week of April 17: Dermatologists (eczema, acne, infection, skin cancer)
Week of April 24: How premature babies are cared for and what's done to help them not be premature
Week of May 1: Pediatric ER physicians and nurses (emergencies) and how that's different from adults
Week of May 8: Pediatric Cardiologists (hearts and heart problems kids have) and how that's different from adults
Week of May 15: Pediatric Nephrologists (kidneys and kidney problems kids have) and how that's different from adults
Week of May 22: Pediatric Pulmonologists (lungs and lung problems kids have) and how that's different from adults
Week of May 29: Infectious Disease Specialists (germs) 
Week of June 5: Pediatric Dentists 
Week of June 12:  Orthodontists (braces) 
Week of June 19: Pediatric Otolaryngologists (ear nose and throat) and how that's different from adults
Week of June 26: Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeons (bones and joints) and how that's different from adults
Week of July 3: Pediatric Dermatologists (skin) and how that's different from adults
Week of July 10: Pediatric Sports Medicine (athletes) and how that's different from adults
Week of July 11: Pediatric Anesthesiology (keeping people asleep during surgery and treating pain)
Week of July 18: Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologists (how to talk, talk clearly, etc)
Week of July 25: Pediatric Neurology (nerves, brains)
Week of September 4: All about wheelchairs and the people who use them to go places!
Week of Sept 11: Medicine (invention, production, prescription, dispensing)
Week of Sept 18: Urology 
Week of Sept 25: ICU nurses
Week of October 2: Doctors and scientists who take care of cells: What's inside cells and how does it work and how can it go wrong and who takes care of those problems? (lysosomal storage diseases, mitochondrial diseases, blood cells diseases)
Week of October 9: Hematology
Week of October 16: Approaches to video game "addiction" and how it's different from addiction to cigarettes 
Week of October 23: Wound Care (Doctors, Nurses, and Technology)
Week of October 30: Occupational medicine (Keeping workers healthy and being a medical detective when they aren't)
Week of November 8: Infusion centers and infusion nurses (when people need treatments that can't be taken as a pill)
Week of November 15: Health departments (the hidden heros of public health)
Week of November 22: Oral and maxillofacial surgery (dentists? doctors? they do a lot!)
Week of November 29: Flight nurse (because even in the air, people need medical care)
Week of December 6: Medical research and MD-PhD (can't decide? Do both!)
Week of December 13: Sleep medicine (more eventful than it sounds... Dreams, sleep disorders, and more)
Week of December 20: Registered Dietician (because food isn't medicine but what we eat does matter)
Week of December 27: Family medicine (because Dr. Robin was a solo physician in a family medicine practice before teaching on Outschool!)

2024

Week of Jan 1: Allergist (more than sniffles!)
Week of Jan 8: Hospitalist (describes where they practice rather than their specialty)
Week of Jan 15: DOs vs MDs (two different degrees, all doctors)
Week of Jan 22: The science of how MRI, CT, and ultrasound all work
Week of Jan 29: The history of vaccines
Week of Feb 5: How researchers research
Week of Feb 12: Medical terminology
Week of Feb 19: Spine surgeons
Week of Feb 26: Cardiac electrophysiology (fixing the electricity in the heart)
Week of March 4: Micrographic surgery (a very special skin surgery!)
Week of March 11: Rheumatology
Week of March 18: Neonatal/Perinatal Medicine (babies!) 
Week of March 25: Vascular surgery
Week of April 1: Recent advances in genetics
Week of April 8: Endocrinology (including thyroid, diabetes, growth hormone)
Week of April 15:  Pediatric intensivist
Week of April 22: Hand surgery 
Week of April 29: Liver transplant
Week if May 6: Pediatric Neurology
Week of May 13: Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine
Week of May 20: All about glasses and vision
Week of May 27: General surgery
Week of June 3: Where healthcare professionals work (types of hospitals, clinics, procedure centers, and more)
Week of June 10: Urology
Week of June 17: Neurology
Week of June 24: Pediatrics and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
Week of July 1: ENT
Week of July 8: Dermatology
Week of July 15: Cardiology
Week of July22: Pulmonology
Week of July 29: Gastroenterology
Week of August 5: Rheumatology
Week of August 12: Infectious Disease
Week of August 19: Nephrology
Week of August 26: Pathology
Week of Sept 2 : Obstetrics/Midwifery
Week of Sept 9: Pediatric Specialties
Week of Sept 16: Interventional Radiology
Week of Sept 23: General Surgery
Week of Sept 30: Anesthesiology
Week of Oct 7: Surgical Assisting and OR nurses
Week of Oct 14: Pre-Op and Post-Op (from pre-op clearance to the pre-op area etc)
Week of Oct 21: Podiatrists vs Orthopedists
Week of Oct 28: Oral surgeons vs ENTs
Week of Nov 4: Epidemiology and Public Health
Week of Nov 11: Dentistry
Week of Nov 18: Sports Medicine
Week of Nov 25: Sleep Medicine (how they diagnose and treat all sorts of sleep problems like sleep walking, dreams, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and more)
Week of Dec 2: Ophthalmology and Procedures on EYEBALLS!
Week of Dec 9: Immunology and Virology
Week of Dec 16: Medical care in Antarctica 
Week of Dec 23: Ski patrol, Search and rescue, and other mountain medical care
Week of Dec 30: Habits and Health (from a different angle than Mini Med School)
Week of Jan 6: Neurology
Week of Jan 13: What is AI and AI in healthcare
Week of Jan 20: Geneticists