It’s not easy to become and work as a healthcare professional since people’s lives rely on your skills and knowledge. You have to keep up with academics and enormous amount of rapidly updating medical information. The fact that vast of these information nowadays is in English makes these tasks become more overwhelming for those who are not native English speakers. So, if you medical workers are facing all the troubles, why not try out medical courses in English to boost both professional knowledge and medical English?
Below are 5 of the best and FREE online resources which provide medical courses. If the idea of learning medical in English freaks you out, in the second part of the blog, you will be given a solution for that. Without further ado, let’s start with the list!
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5 free learning platforms for medical students
1 Osmosis
Osmosis is a comprehensive learning platform (works on web and mobile) which was founded by two students of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The initial purpose is to create a learning environment out of the classes for medical students and prepare for the USMLE (The United States Medical Licensing Examination). It is a three-step examination for medical licensure in the United States. Physicians with an MD (Doctor of Medicine) degree are required to pass this examination before being permitted to practice medicine in the United States. Since then, Osmosis provides diverse courses which cover pathology, physiology, clinical reasoning and pharmacology topics…
For whom: Medical students, resident doctors and healthcare professionals
Lecture structure: Clear and concise videos – notes – flashcards – group discussions.
One of the distinctive features of Osmosis is that it provides creative teaching methods with +1300 short and manageable videos which are said to be simple to understand and high-yield.
After choosing a topic and details you want to focus on, Osmosis will give you a page dedicated to the topic with video links that simplify and bring that topic to life. You can also take notes, use flashcards and quizzes to check your understanding on the topic. These quizzes are based on the Spaced repetition algorithm that will help you to remember better.
Pricing: 7-day free trial. After that you can choose from three plans: 6-month plan for $179, 1-year plan for $199 and 2-year plan for $279.
Pros: Courses focus only on medical studies. As Osmosis encourages fun-based learning experiences, it has a friendly and joyful interface. Students can get access to mobile apps to study anytime, anywhere.
Cons: According to some learners, the topic on Osmosis is a little contracted and too fast to follow. And it has only 3 plans for learners to choose to upgrade.
2 Lecturio
Lecturio is an online medical study platform providing authentic courses with some efficient learning tools and a friendly interface. Aiming to update the way medical sciences should be taught, the platform brings high professionals and enthusiastic students together, keeping the teaching standards affordable and personalized.
For whom: Medical students, resident doctors and healthcare professionals
Lecture structure: Lecture video – quizzes – references, articles
Lecturio has a comprehensive video library containing 6,500+ video lectures, which are conducted by the professors of the world’s leading universities. You can learn concepts effectively with these short, concise, and easy-to-follow video lectures taught by teaching experts and benefit from integrated quiz questions, 3D anatomy models, English captions, and downloadable slides.
Pricing: Registration is free and you will have a 24-hour trial.
After that, Lecturio will provide access to 20% of all video lectures (1-3 free videos/courses), limited quiz questions (1000) and access to a collection of textbook articles. Check this video to learn how to find courses before registering for a 24-hour trial.
There are several subscription plans to choose from such as a 3-month plan for $27.99/month, 1-year plan for $17.49/month, 2-year plan for $12.99/month and 4-year plan for $8.99/month.
Pros: You can find all medical subjects and topics for med school here with the Bookmatcher feature. You also get extremely useful study guides (Medical School Survival Guide), study schedules for USMLE and Qbank with a lot of questions that are similar to Uworld. It also has an iOS & Android app to study with flexibility.
Cons: Compared to Osmosis, Lecturio is a little more expensive.
3 edX
edX is an American massive open online course (MOOC) provider created by Harvard and MIT. It hosts online university-level courses in a wide range of disciplines (Medicine and Healthcare included) to a worldwide student body, including some courses at no charge.
For whom: Medical students, resident doctors and healthcare professionals.
Lecture structure: The courses often include tutorial videos that are similar to small on-campus discussion groups, an online textbook, and an online discussion forum where students can post and review questions and comments to each other and teaching assistants. Where applicable, you can find online laboratories in the course.
Pricing: edX offers a variety of ways to take courses, including verified courses where students have the option to audit the course (no cost) or to work toward an edX Verified Certificate (fees vary by course). edX also offers Series Certificates for completion of a bundled set of two to seven verified courses in a single subject (cost varies depending on the courses).
Pros: This is the right platform for those who are looking for formal education. You have a free course audit option for courses which are created and taught by some of the top-ranked universities and industry leading companies in the world. The prices are also reasonable if you decide to earn a certificate and enroll in the verified track. Therefore, edX is a great platform for medical workers who want to enhance existing skills and take their careers to the next level.
Cons: Each course has a specific date to enrol and finish, therefore, learning on edX is not as flexible as on other online learning platforms. You have to devote time and effort to complete all the lessons and pass all the tests.
4 Coursera
Coursera is an American massive open online course that offers specializations, degrees, professional and master track courses. This platform works with universities and other organizations like Stanford, Duke, Penn, IBM, Google to offer online courses, certifications, and degrees in a variety of subjects. You can also find many prestigious medicine courses on Coursera.
For whom: Medical students, resident doctors and healthcare professionals
Lecture structure: Lecture videos – quizzes.
Like other learning platforms, each Coursera course contains lessons, each lesson has lecture videos and a quick test (However, the test will only be graded for paid courses). Every video has subtitles and transcripts which help you to follow the lecturers easily. There might be other reading materials related to the topic.
Pricing: Learn for free – pay for certificates – subscribe to course series.
After register as a Coursera member (for free) and sign in to your account, you can access many courses without paying any fee (look for the small audit option link during enrollment, then choose Full Course, No Certificate)
Pros: You can check the estimated time to complete, difficulty level and other information before taking any course. The learning option is plenty. You can access courses for free if you don’t need a certificate, paid for individual courses if you want to do assignments and get a certificate from reputable places or subscribe to different plans to get a more extensive online training with Coursera.
Cons: There are not many medical courses on Coursera compared to other learning platforms.
5 FutureLearn
Last but not least, it’s FutureLearn, Britain’s finest online education provider. Besides online courses, FutureLearn also offers some of the best-in-class micro credential programs, certificates, and online degrees. Like Coursera, FutureLearn courses cover many fields and topics, Healthcare & Medicine is included.
For whom: Medical students, resident doctors and healthcare professionals.
Lecture structure: You can learn by watching videos, listening to audios and reading articles. Many of the aboves are followed by short quizzes to help you to check your understanding. Especially, every article, video or audio has a section for learners to comment and ask questions.
Pricing: You can access any course for its duration +14 days, regardless of when you join.
However, if you want to take the tests or get a printed and digital Certificate of Achievement or Statement of Participation, you will have to pay according to each course. You can also choose other unlimited plans.
Pros: Friendly and excellent user interface and navigation, well-built syllabuses. Moreover, FutureLearn encourages a sense of community by providing excellent peer-to-peer discussion forums. You can discuss topics with each other and educators will offer guidance and answer questions.
Cons: Like Coursera, there are not many medical courses on FutureLearn. No Android or iOS apps.
Below are some courses on FutureLearn for you to check
Exploring Anatomy: the Human Abdomen (University of Leeds)
In the above platforms, you will learn Healthcare & Medicine courses in English only. Hence, once you complete, you will gain not only specialized knowledge but also medical English vocabulary. Not just that, learning through videos and audios will help you improve medical vocabulary, as well as listening and pronunciation skills effectively. If you are not confident with your English skills yet, in the next part, you will be introduced to an amazing tool that eases all your difficulties.
Amazing tool to get translation immediately
It’s not easy to study medical specialization, especially in a different language. But don’t let the language barrier stop you from achieving your success. Install eJOY eXtension right away to Chrome and start learning.
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Once installed, you can get a quick translation by a mouse hover whenever you find a strange medical term.
eJOY also provides dual subtitles which is super convenient for students to follow the lesson without any interruption.
For new vocabulary, it takes only one click to get full information one might need, such as pronunciation, definition, translation, slang, example, synonyms…
It helps you to link the word and its sound correctly. You can also save vocabulary for later review to remember it forever effortlessly, thanks to Spaced repetition algorithm.
While learning on the above platforms, you will be provided many reading materials on the focus topics. With eJOY eXtension, you can not only read the articles without any obstacles but can also literally listen to them. This audio reader feature can help you improve both reading and listening skills effectively. Please find more information about this amazing feature in the blog How to use Audio reader on eJOY.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these 5 platforms for studying medical courses in English will help you improve your professional skills and medical English as well. However, don’t forget to spend some time for yourselves to relax and recover after long hours working and studying. If you want to collect more medical vocabulary and phrases while entertaining, why not find some movies or series in Healthcare and medical topics? Check out the 15 Movies on Health & Healthcare post on eJOY blog to have some ideas.
Leave a comment about what you want to know more about medical English and language learning methods in the comment section below.
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Happy learning!
