Are you considering a career in the medical field? Get a taste of what a career in medicine is like with this unique learning experience. In this online course, you’ll play the role of a general medical resident working at a fictional hospital. You will be asked to meet a young patient who has some unusual symptoms and work with an attending physician to diagnose and treat the patient. Grow your problem-solving and critical thinking skills as you work in teams to develop a differential diagnosis, analyze medical test results, and try to deduce which disease is affecting the patient.

On the first day, the course mentor will give you a tour of the course site and walk you through how to use it. During the course, you will work in a combination of full cohort discussions and breakout team rooms. This is not a lecture-based course. Instead, you will be immersed on day one in a realistic medical-mystery story and will learn by doing as you work to solve the mystery case. Learning resources of relevant content are available on the course website, and you will work in teams to do research and prepare assignments.

During your work, you will:

• Meet the patient and take a first pass at developing a differential diagnosis
• Request test results and use this evidence to revise your differential diagnosis
• Maintain a personal glossary of medical terminology
• Continue to investigate the differential diagnosis with this patient by examining additional information
• Interpret a final round of test results and apply what you have learned to the differential diagnosis
• React to a twist in the case
• Develop a discharge summary for the patient
• Conclude and reflect on your experiences in the course

This course will run from 1:00-3:00PM PDT Monday through Friday for one week. Course activities and class meetings are facilitated by industry experts who partner with UC Davis.