This guide is designed as a starting point for faculty to locate open educational resources for use in VCU health sciences courses. Faculty are invited to explore these resources as a way to gain familiarity with OER and to identify potential materials for use in their courses. Just as they evaluate traditional textbooks, faculty are encouraged to evaluate these resources to determine whether they might be a good fit for their courses.
Binks, A. (2022). Cardiovascular Pathophysiology for Pre-Clinical Students. Virginia Tech Publishing. https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/cardiovascularpathophysiology/
Cardiovascular Pathophysiology for Pre-Clinical Students, is an undergraduate medical-level resource for foundational knowledge of common cardiovascular diseases, disorders and pathologies. This text is designed for a course pre-clinical undergraduate medical curriculum and it is aligned to USMLE(r) (United States Medical Licensing Examination) content guidelines. The text is meant to provide the essential information from these content areas in a concise format that would allow learner preparation to engage in an active classroom. Clinical correlates and additional application of content is intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have an understanding of basic cardiovascular physiology that will be helpful to understand the content presented here. This resource should be assistive to the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation given the material is presented in a succinct manner, with a focus on high-yield concepts.
Binks, A. (2022b) Pulmonary Pathophysiology for Pre-Clinical Students. Virginia Tech Publishing. https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/pulmonarypathophysiology/
Pulmonary Pathophysiology for Pre-Clinical Students is an undergraduate medical-level resource for foundational knowledge of pulmonary pathophysiology. This text is designed for a course pre-clinical undergraduate medical curriculum and it is aligned to USMLE(r) (United States Medical Licensing Examination) content guidelines. The text is meant to provide the essential information from these content areas in a concise format that would allow learner preparation to engage in an active classroom. Clinical correlates and additional application of content is intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have an understanding of basic cardiovascular physiology that will be helpful to understand the content presented here. This resource should be assistive to the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation given the material is presented in a succinct manner, with a focus on high-yield concepts.
Binks, A. (2022c). Pulmonary Physiology for Pre-Clinical Students. Virginia Tech Publishing. https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/pulmonaryphysiology/
Pulmonary Physiology for Pre-Clinical Students is an undergraduate medical-level resource for foundational knowledge of pulmonary physiology. This text is designed for a course pre-clinical undergraduate medical curriculum and it is aligned to USMLE(r) (United States Medical Licensing Examination) content guidelines. The text is meant to provide the essential information from these content areas in a concise format that would allow learner preparation to engage in an active classroom. Clinical correlates and additional application of content is intended to be provided in the classroom experience. This resource should be assistive to the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation given the material is presented in a succinct manner, with a focus on high-yield concepts.
Curren, C. (2018). Perspectives on Bias in Medicine. The Ohio State University. https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/curren1/
This book will allow the medical learner to identify and acknowledge bias in the medical setting through the eyes of patients, medical professionals, and content experts who discuss their experiences with this subject. Learners will use self-assessment via the Implicit Bias Test created by Harvard University's Project Implicit, and reflection through knowledge checks, to solidify learning. It is written in dedication to our future medical professionals and patients we care for with the hopes of cultivating compassion through self-knowledge and awareness.
LeClair, R. J. (2021). Cell Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry for Pre-Clinical Students. Virginia Tech Publishing. https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/cellbio/
Cell Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry for Pre-Clinical Students, is an undergraduate medical-level resource for foundational knowledge across the disciplines of genetics, cell biology and biochemistry. This text is designed for a course in first year undergraduate medical course that is delivered typically before students start to explore systems physiology and pathophysiology. The text is meant to provide the essential information from these content areas in a concise format that would allow learner preparation to engage in an active classroom. Clinical correlates and additional application of content is intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have completed medical school prerequisites (including the MCAT) in which they will have been introduced to the most fundamental concepts of biology and chemistry that are essential to understand the content presented here. This resource should be assistive to the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation given the material is presented in a succinct manner, with a focus on high-yield concepts.
LeClair, R. J. (2022). Neuroscience for Pre-Clinical Students. Virginia Tech Publishing. https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/neuroscience/
Neuroscience for Pre-Clinical Students covers neuroenergetics, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and selected amino acid metabolism and degradation. This USMLE-aligned text is designed for a first-year undergraduate medical course and is meant to provide the essential biochemical information from these content areas in a concise format to enable students to engage in an active classroom. Hence, it does not cover neurophysiology and neuroanatomy; and clinical correlates and additional application of content are intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have completed medical school prerequisites (including the MCAT) in which they will have been introduced to the most fundamental concepts of biology and chemistry that are essential to understand the content presented here. With its focus on high-yield concepts, this resource will assist the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation.
Ten Cate, O., Custers, E. J. F. M., & Durning, S. J. (Eds.). (2018). Principles and Practice of Case-based Clinical Reasoning Education (Vol. 15). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64828-6
University of Michigan Medical School. (2016, August 8). Medical Resources. OpenMichigan. https://open.umich.edu/find/open-educational-resources/medical-resources
The mission of the U-M Medical School is to educate students, physicians, and biomedical scholars and to provide a spectrum of comprehensive knowledge, research, patient care and service of the highest quality to the people of the State of Michigan and beyond. This section of the website lists over 20 courses or other resources that are free to reuse and remix.
Courses: Health and Medicine. (2022). MIT OpenCourseWare.
Since 2001, MIT OpenCourseWare has been creating new opportunities for millions of learners and educators, sharing Open Educational Resources (OER) from MIT and helping to lead a global revolution in free access to knowledge. This section of the website contains any courses related to Medicine, Health Sciences, and Neuroscience.
If these resources aren’t exactly what you’re looking for, you can try searching in some of the repositories and aggregators listed on this guide’s homepage.
You can also reach out to your program’s liaison librarian or to the Open Educational Resources Librarian. Your librarians can help you identify resources or discuss the possibility of customizing or creating resources to better fit your needs.
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