Top 10 Free Health & Medical Open Courseware Collections

This is a guest post from Dena White.

Open courseware collections focusing on health and medicine assist students and healthcare professionals learn more about their particular field, further their careers, and increase their learning potential without enrolling in and commuting to expensive continuing education organizations or colleges.

Health and medical open courseware collections are available free of charge and are accessible any time and any place, as long as you have a connection to the Internet.

Counseling

Counseling professionals and psychology students can find training guides and other educational resources on the Internet via open courseware classes. These courses provide students with a broad-based perception of all of the different kinds of counseling.

In addition, they also help students determine which sector of the field they would most like to pursue. These courses also provide working counselors and psychologists with access to cutting-edge theories and practices within the field. Anyone taking these courses will be able to build strong interpersonal, communication and decision-making skills as well as a firm understanding of the social and scientific issues that surround the field of health and medicine.

Classes in the counseling open course collection are provided by several fine schools such as the University of Massachusetts Boston, Utah State University, The Open University, the University of Michigan and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health.

Dental Hygiene

For a basic background on dentistry and human biology, in addition to specific training in public health, denture care, and geriatric dentistry, students can use open courseware classes to build on their education and dentistry skills. Tufts University School of Dental Medicine offers classes in this collection covering topics such as cancer, dentures, elderly patients, public healthcare and water fluoridation.

The open courseware classes related to dental medicine and dental hygiene is effective in preparing students of advanced programs in the dental field as well as help professionals learn even more about the dental industry.

Emergency Management

Disaster relief, emergency management, and terrorism response are all rising fields in the healthcare industry. Respected institutions such as Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health allow students to use educational resources online that teach skills in making decisions, responding to terrorist acts, analyzing public health policies, treating mass populations, as well as treatment in a wide variety of conditions and symptoms.

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Food And Nutrition Science

This open course collection features topics such as the basics of human nutrition, bioterrorism, official food policy and agricultural science. Schools such as the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Tufts University and the University of California Berkeley provide a wide range of resources and courses that will assist students in understanding farming and economics, environmental systems, the effects of terrorism and so much more.

Students will learn all about crop breeding, biology, plant infestation, healthy living, human metabolism, natural nutrients, as well as poison in public water and food supplies. Relevant classes are available for farmers, nutritionists, agricultural leaders, emergency management professionals, healthcare professionals and scientists to help them stay up to date in their specific fields.

Gerontology

Healthcare professionals who work with elderly or aging patients are able to increase their educational training with online classes through schools such as MIT and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The topics covered in these courses include Medicare, the aging process, nursing homes, mental disorders, health care policies, and neurological conditions in elderly patients as well as many more helpful subjects.

Rounding out the top ten free health and medical open courseware collections are courses in Health Care Administration, Occupational Safety and Health, Pharmacy, Public Health and Radiologic Science. Open courseware collections offer students and professionals with a unique opportunity to learn all kinds of relevant information to help keep them on top of their field. Stay tuned for more on these!

DENA WHITE is a freelance writer and covers topics such as nurse assistant and medical careers, health care topics, and more.