This book teaches medical students basic science and clinical concepts utilizing over 30 cases that cover all major organ systems. Case-based learning has become a core way to teach the application of foundational material in the basic and clinical sciences in the pre-clerkship years. Medical schools' curriculums tend to be traditional, organ systems-based, or problem-based. There are many discipline-based textbooks for students to use in a traditional approach to medical education. For the organ systems-based approach, there are many books dedicated to each organ system, where clinical relevance is tied in with basic science concepts. In a problem-based curriculum, students use clinical cases to stimulate inquiry, knowledge application, and critical thinking. While there are many books available for faculty to learn how to teach in a problem-based approach, there is a paucity of textbooks that provide the breadth and depth of clinical cases integrated with basic medical sciences. This book serves to fill that gap.
Written when the authors were fourth year medical students and edited by an experienced educator, each case is designed to present the reader with the information they need to know in a direct and accessible format. Cases are organized by organ system. Each case includes learning objectives (clinical and basic science), patient history, detailed physical exam, labs, imaging, test results, treatment, outcomes, and sample board-style exam questions. In addition, each case has an additional objective to approach topics such as ethics, social determinants of health, behavioral health, healthcare transformation, and public health.
This is an ideal resource for first- and second-year medical students to learn these foundational concepts and prepare for USMLE Step 1 and 2 board examinations.
Cynthia A. Standley, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Bioethics and Medical Humanism at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix. She received her PhD in Physiology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Standley is an accomplished medical educator with more than years' experience teaching physiology to both osteopathic and allopathic medical students. She was formerly among the inaugural faculty at Midwestern University's Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine (AZCOM) and also an inaugural faculty member at the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (SOMA) associated with A T. Still University. In addition to an active research career in hypertension in pregnancy, her work has focused on constructing and implementing the medical school programs at AZCOM, SOMA and at UA COM-Phoenix, as well as faculty development in the areas of flipped classrooms and exam question writing. Dr. Standley teaches physiology at the interface of basic and clinical science, integrating physiology in clinical scenarios with emphasis on student interaction to promote life-long learning. She has also taught the Human Physiology course for year 1 physician assistant students on the Phoenix campus of Northern Arizona University, as well as at Midwestern University. She founded the Art in Medicine program at the UA College of Medicine-Phoenix and has partnered with the Phoenix Art Museum to provide arts education to medical students with the goal of improving patient care as well as medical student wellness.
