ScholarRx is excited to announce the release of the Health Systems Bricks Collection. This new addition, tailored for health professional students, complements the recently launched Global Health Bricks Collection, providing a robust educational framework for future health professionals.

What Sets these Bricks Apart?

The Health Systems Bricks Collection offers a rich exploration of health systems, helping students understand their structure, challenges, and opportunities to drive improvement. Its key features include:

• Comprehensive Scope: The collection presents the essential components of health systems using frameworks like those from the World Health Organization, highlighting structures, approaches, and challenges globally.
• Practical Applications: These resources equip learners to recognize their role in health systems and identify actionable ways to strengthen them.
• Accessible to All: This free collection ensures that health professional students everywhere can access and benefit from these valuable learning materials, breaking down barriers to high-quality education.

Key Learning Highlights

The collection features essential topics, including:

• Health and Well-Being: Discusses the broad concept of health, incorporating social determinants, health inequities, and metrics like QALY, DALY, and EQ-5D to measure outcomes and well-being.
• Health Service Delivery: This chapter explores the four tiers of care—public health, primary, secondary, and tertiary. It also covers the principles of quality care, integrated health services, gatekeeping, and social prescribing.
• Health Workforce: This section highlights the diverse roles within healthcare teams, addresses challenges like the global shortage of health workers, and emphasizes the need for professional development and capacity-building initiatives.
• Health Financing and Governance: This section examines financial models for revenue generation, fund pooling, and service purchasing while addressing leadership and stakeholder collaboration for effective governance.
• People-Centered Health Systems: These systems focus on patient-centered care, emphasizing the importance of patient involvement, advocacy, and tools to enhance healthcare equity and efficiency.

A Collaborative Effort

This collection was developed with input from educators and students worldwide, ensuring relevance across diverse contexts. By integrating these Bricks into your curriculum, you can empower students with the knowledge and skills to address critical challenges in health systems and contribute to their improvement.

Please get in touch with our team for more information or to learn how to integrate our Bricks into your curriculum.

The post ScholarRx Releases Open-Access Health Systems Brick Collection appeared first on ScholarRx.

ScholarRx is proud to announce the release of our new Global Health Brick Collection. Designed specifically for medical students, this free, open-access collection offers a comprehensive exploration of global health challenges and solutions.

Key Features of the Collection:

• Comprehensive Coverage: The collection introduces various international health topics, including non-communicable diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and the importance of coordinated action.
• Practical Applications: Students will develop the skills to identify key stakeholders, advocate for improved health outcomes, and navigate the complex landscape of international medicine policy.
• Free and Open-Access: The collection is available to all medical students at no cost, ensuring widespread accessibility and impact.

Why Global Health Matters: A Must-Know for Medical Students

Global health isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a critical field shaping healthcare’s future. Understanding global health is essential for medical students for several reasons:

1. A World of Patients: Our world is increasingly interconnected. Diseases can spread rapidly across borders, and health challenges often require international solutions. Whether you plan to practice domestically or internationally, a global health perspective will help you navigate the complexities of modern medicine.

2. Addressing Health Inequities: Global health focuses on improving health outcomes for all people, regardless of location or socioeconomic status. By studying global health, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of health inequities and develop the skills to address them.

3. Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Global health problems are often complex and require solutions beyond traditional medical interventions. By learning about global health, you’ll develop the ability to collaborate with experts from various fields, such as public health, economics, and social sciences.

4. Career Opportunities: A strong foundation in global health can open up a wide range of career opportunities, from working with international organizations to conducting global health research.

5. Personal Growth: Studying global health can be a transformative experience. It can broaden your horizons, challenge your assumptions, and inspire you to impact the world positively.

By incorporating these Bricks into your curriculum, you can equip your students with the knowledge and skills necessary to address today’s and tomorrow’s pressing global health challenges.

Please get in touch with our team for more information or to learn how to integrate our Bricks into your curriculum.

The post ScholarRx Releases Open-Access Global Health Brick Collection appeared first on ScholarRx.

Air pollution is responsible for an estimated 7 million premature deaths each year, according to the World Health Organization. The burden falls most heavily on people living in rapidly industrializing cities in low- and middle-income countries, where manufacturing and energy production are concentrated.

Power plants, factories, vehicles, and refineries release carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter into the air. These pollutants enter the lungs and bloodstream, contributing to respiratory disease, cardiovascular conditions, and neurologic harm. Children are particularly vulnerable, with exposure linked to impaired lung development and measurable cognitive effects.

There is no safe level of exposure. While individuals can take steps to reduce indoor pollutants, meaningful reductions in ambient air pollution depend on public policy, industrial practice, and infrastructure.

Delhi was ranked the most polluted major city in the world in 2022. At the same time, regulatory efforts such as the U.S. Clean Air Act demonstrate that emissions standards can measurably improve air quality and population health. Air pollution is not simply an environmental issue; it is a preventable driver of clinical disease.

Integrating Air Pollution Into Health Professions Education

Environmental exposure is often addressed in public health contexts, but its clinical implications are not always made explicit in core medical education. Yet learners routinely care for patients whose asthma, coronary artery disease, stroke risk, pregnancy outcomes, or cognitive development are shaped by air quality.

Helping students connect environmental exposure to pathophysiology and patient care decisions requires structure, relevant cases, and integration within existing coursework.

The Air Pollution brick in the MeSAGE Planetary Health collection was developed to support that work in collaboration with health professions educators. It:

• Reviews major pollutant categories and sources

• Links exposure to organ-system–specific outcomes

• Uses case-based questions to connect environmental data with clinical reasoning

• Introduces prevention and systems-level considerations within patient care discussions

The brick can be assigned as preparatory work before pulmonary, cardiology, neurology, pediatrics, or community health sessions. It can also be incorporated into discussions of prevention, health systems science, or social determinants of health.

Because the MeSAGE collection is published under a Creative Commons license, educators are free to adopt and adapt the material. Through the Bricks Create authoring platform, faculty can localize cases to reflect regional environmental challenges. A program in California might incorporate wildfire smoke exposure into a COPD case. A program in South Asia might contextualize particulate density in an urban pediatrics scenario. The underlying learning structure remains intact while the context becomes locally relevant.

Rather than adding a separate environmental health block, the brick helps faculty surface environmental determinants within the clinical teaching students already encounter.

The Air Pollution brick is available as part of the MeSAGE Planetary Health collection for educators who wish to integrate environmental determinants more explicitly into their curricula.

The post Air Pollution and the Clinical Consequences of Modern Life appeared first on ScholarRx.

The Intersection of Human Health and Environmental Wellness

An emergent notion of planetary health lies at the intersection of human health and environmental wellness. This concept casts a broader net than public and global health, drawing the two into a holistic context and unveiling a nuanced understanding of our intricate relationship with our environment.

Our existence is tethered to the health of our environment. The elements — air, water, food, and shelter — form the basis of human life, granting us protection and nurturing our mental and spiritual well-being. The World Health Organization reports that environmental factors contribute significantly to the global disease burden, and modifiable ecological risks account for 1 in 4 global deaths. We’ve glimpsed the deadly potency of these environmental determinants, with air pollution, freshwater contamination, chemical pollution, and severe weather events causing widespread harm and disease.

Yet, as our ecosystems shudder under the weight of human damage, it is crucial to remember that not all inhabitants of Earth bear equal responsibility. Industrialized nations have accumulated wealth at the expense of the environment, while lower-income countries and vulnerable communities pay a steeper price. The poignant plight of island nations, losing their homes to the rising seas driven by our greenhouse gas emissions, is a stark testament to this injustice.

Our world has reached a juncture where we must confront the irreversible toll of our actions. We’ve breached five out of nine planetary boundaries: climate change, land-system changes, biodiversity loss, novel entities like plastic, and disruptions to global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. We’ve set into motion changes that risk triggering a cascade of nonlinear, abrupt environmental shifts.

Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a blueprint for building a better and more sustainable future for all. These 17 interconnected goals, launched in 2015, were designed to address the most pressing global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, and environmental degradation. They underscore the intricate links between human health and planetary health, recognizing that our well-being is intrinsically tied to the health of our planet.

Several SDGs directly address vital environmental determinants of health, highlighting the need for clean water and sanitation, climate action, and protecting life below water and on land. These goals remind us of our collective responsibility to work towards sustainable development for ourselves and future generations.

Facilitating Learning

Education on planetary health is relevant and necessary at a critical juncture in our relationship with our planet. Whether you’re an aspiring health professional or an educator responsible for shaping the curriculum, understanding the intricate relationship between the environment and human health is pivotal.

To facilitate this learning, the Medical Student Alliance for Global Education, or MeSAGE, has designed a wide range of free and open-access digital learning modules, which we call Bricks. Our bricks are more than just resources for self-directed learning – they also provide an invaluable guide for educators looking to incorporate vital topics into their curricula.

Our newest collection of bricks delves into the complexities of Planetary Health. The introductory brick to this collection provides a comprehensive understanding of how our health is intertwined with the health of our planet. It explores the need for sustainable development and the urgency of reshaping our societies, economies, and health systems to ensure a resilient and healthy world.

What sets MeSAGE apart is our commitment to democratizing education. Not only are our bricks free and open-access, but they can also be adapted using ScholarRx’s free authoring platform, Bricks Create. This platform empowers educators to modify our materials to fit their regional context, making the learning experience more relevant and enriching for their students.

To the educators reading this – our new collection serves as a resource for integrating planetary health into your curriculum. The aim is to foster in-depth understanding, spark thoughtful discussions, and encourage critical thinking.

We invite you to start your journey into Planetary Health by diving into our introductory brick. Join us in this collective learning journey, moving towards a more informed, healthier, and sustainable future. With access to knowledge, we can collectively drive the change we need for our planet’s health. So, use our resources, adapt them to your needs, and build a better future together.

The post On the Precipice: A Meditation on Planetary Health appeared first on ScholarRx.

“Climate change is the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century.” – The World Health Organization

A New Rx Brick Collection from MeSAGE

The Medical Student Alliance for Global Education, or MeSAGE, has released its newest collection of Rx Bricks, which focuses on Planetary Health. This set of free, open-access digital learning modules from ScholarRx covers the interplay between human health and the environment, aiming to equip current and future healthcare professionals with everything they need to effectively address the impact of a shifting climate.

Why Planetary Health?

The climate continues to impact our lives, leading the World Health Organization to say, “It threatens the essential ingredients of good health – clean air, safe drinking water, nutritious food supply and safe shelter – and has the potential to undermine decades of progress in global health.”

According to WHO, “Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress alone. The direct damage costs to health are estimated to be between US $2-4 billion per year by 2030. Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.”

We see the effects of climate change more and more each year. From warming, rising oceans to hotter temperatures, increased drought, and more severe storms, it’s nearly impossible to escape them. As these effects lead to species losses, less food, poverty, displacement, and compounding health risks, we must prepare health professionals for the myriad of questions and issues they will see.

These Bricks provide an in-depth look into how planetary health will affect the medical profession. Climate change’s impacts on different sectors of society are interrelated, with drastic results and harmful consequences hovering on the horizon. This interrelation will influence many doctors’ care decisions, and having a solid foundational understanding of planetary health is vital.

Created under the oversight of lead editor and planetary health expert Michelle McLean, Ph.D., these peer-reviewed Bricks are quick and easy to deploy in your curriculum or courses. Topics in the Planetary Health collection include:

• Air Pollution
• Climate Change and Health
• Environmental Justice
• Food and Water Security
• Mental Health and the Environment
• Severe Weather Events

And so much more. Please learn more about the collection here.

What is MeSAGE?

MeSAGE aims to empower student organizations with the tools and expertise to build medical education content that often falls outside the traditional curriculum and make that content freely available to any student, school, or institution worldwide.

MeSAGE is the largest student-driven curriculum alliance on the planet, composed of student organizations representing over 1.3 million medical students in over 130 countries, from partners including:

• AMSA: The American Medical Student Association
• AMWA: The American Medical Women’s Association
• APSA: American Physician Scientsists’ Association
• AMSA-International: Asian Medical Students’ Association
• EMSA: The European Medical Students’ Association
• FAMSA: Federation of African Medical Students’ Associations
• IFMSA: International Federation of Medical Students Associations
• Phi Delta Epsilon: The International Medical Fraternity
• SNMA: The Student National Medical Association
• SNO: Student Network Organization
• SOMA: The Student Osteopathic Medical Association

MeSAGE utilizes the groundbreaking digital learning platform Rx Bricks to create interactive educational modules that focus on critical topics identified during a global needs assessment, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, digital health, planetary health, students as educators, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Together, we aim to leverage the expertise and passion of medical students to develop engaging and open medical education content that educators worldwide can use.

The post MeSAGE Releases Planetary Health Brick Collection appeared first on ScholarRx.

During the upcoming IAMSE Virtual Forum, presented by IAMSE (International Association of Medical Science Educators), ScholarRx will be hosting a free pre-conference workshop: New Educator and Scholar Training (NEST): A Professional Development Workshop for Students.

This free event will take place on December 2nd at 8:00 pm and December 3rd at 9:00 am. You can register here. There are even two time options so you can learn more!

This virtual workshop will provide students with an introductory, hands-on experience in applying Kern’s Six-Step model to design a complete education activity with appropriate and engaging pedagogic strategies. Participants will also explore models of converting medical education design and development into scholarship.

The speakers will include:

Tao Le
University of Louisville School of Medicine
Louisville, USA

Elisabeth Schlegel
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra
Northwell, Hempstead, USA

After attending this session, students will be able to:

• Describe a framework for medical education professional development
• Discuss and apply principles and best practices for:
  • Curriculum design and development based on Kern’s Six-Step model
  • Educational scholarship
  • Pedagogic strategies
• Identify and synthesize themes that integrate across major domains of medical education professional development.

Sign up today!

The post New Educators and Scholars Training IAMSE Virtual Forum appeared first on ScholarRx.

This event will take place on Saturday, August 27, and run from 1330-1630 CEST.  You can register here. The pre-conference workshop session is PCW L10.

If you have any difficulties signing up for the session through the registration portal, send a message to amee@serenevent.com indicating that you’re a medical student or an educator interested in signing up for PCW L10.

This online workshop will provide student participants with an introductory, hands-on experience in applying Kern’s Six-Step model to design a complete education activity with appropriate pedagogic strategies. Students will also explore models of converting medical education design and development into scholarship.

The speakers include:
Elisabeth Schlegel
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra
Northwell, Hempstead, USA

Tao Le
University of Louisville School of Medicine
Louisville, USA

Irem Aktar
Istanbul University
Istanbul Faculty of Medicine
Capa / Istanbul, Turkey

Mădălina Elena Mandache
International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations
København N., Denmark

After participating in this session, student attendees should be able to:

• Describe a framework for medical education professional development
• Discuss and apply principles and best practices for:
  • Curriculum design and development based on Kern’s Six-Step model
  • Pedagogic strategies
  • Educational scholarship
• Identify and synthesize themes that integrate across major domains of medical education professional development.

Space is limited, so sign up today!

The post New Educator and Scholars Training: Free Workshop at AMEE 2022 appeared first on ScholarRx.

The Digital Health bricks aim to provide a framework for students to better understand how the innovative use of technologies and data are transforming healthcare, as well as the cultural impact that they are having on the physician-patient relationship.  Healthcare professionals need to be comfortable with these tools and recognize how they can be used to partner with patients to provide a better and more responsive level of care.

This new collection on Digital Health was created by an international team of student authors who were guided by our expert advisor, Dr. Aditi Joshi, MD, MSc, FACEP, and designed for anyone with an interest in the intersection between healthcare and digital technologies.

Topics in the Digital Health collection include:

• Introduction to Digital Health
• Digital Solutions for Global Health
• Digital Health Literacy
• Electronic Health Records
• Mobile Health
• Bioinformatics
• Precision Medicine
• Artificial Intelligence
• Data in Healthcare
• Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Medicine
• Health Technology Assessment
• Laws and Regulations for Digital Health

Digital Health Ecosystem

To get free access to this collection—whether you’re a student or an instructor looking to incorporate this content into your curriculum—set up your free account here.

The aim of MeSAGE is to empower student organizations with the tools and expertise to build medical education content that often falls outside of the traditional curriculum, while making that content freely available to any student, school, or institution in the world.

MeSAGE is the largest student-driven curriculum alliance on the planet, composed of student organizations representing over 1.4 million medical students in over 130 countries, from partners including:

• AMSA: The American Medical Student Association
• AMWA: The American Medical Women’s Association
• APSA: American Physician Scientists’ Association
• AMSA-International: Asian Medical Students’ Association
• EMSA: The European Medical Students’ Association
• FAMSA: Federation of African Medical Students’ Associations
• IFMSA: International Federation of Medical Students Associations
• Phi Delta Epsilon: The International Medical Fraternity
• SNMA: The Student National Medical Association
• SNO: Student Network Organization
• SOMA: The Student Osteopathic Medical Association

Using the revolutionary digital learning platform, Rx Bricks, MeSAGE is building free interactive educational modules that address a wide range of topics, from health equity and human rights to social accountability and planetary health. Together, we aim to leverage the expertise and passion of medical students to develop engaging and open medical education content.

This is the fourth MeSAGE collection to be released, following the publication of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in 2020, The New Educator in late 2021, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion earlier in 2022.  Upcoming MeSAGE collections include:

• Social Accountability 
• Planetary Health 
• Health Policy and Advocacy 
• Leadership and Management Skills

You can learn more about MeSAGE and access the bricks for free through our website. 

About ScholarRx: ScholarRx is a mission-driven organization currently serving over 150,000 medical students and physician learners annually. ScholarRx has developed a revolutionary componentized, multi-competency curricular platform that empowers medical schools and medical student organizations to rapidly develop high-quality education experiences, even in resource-constrained environments.

The post MeSAGE Releases New Collection of Digital Health Bricks appeared first on ScholarRx.

Thursday, July 14th, at 12:30 pm UTC

Health professionals need to adapt to the 21st-century paradigm shift from health as the absence of disease to a broader perspective of a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being. No longer centered around the physician, healthcare is a technology-supported collaboration across different disciplines and fields, where communities are at the center of the intervention. How can we develop a medical curriculum that supports these changes? How can we prepare health professionals to address underlying determinants and promote health equity? This symposium will explore how we can involve learners and partners in curriculum development and share a proposal for a global, shared medical education.

Catarina Pais Rodrigues, MD, has been involved in curriculum development and improvement of medical education for over 7 years. As a student leader, she held different roles in pedagogical committees which required her to become well versed with teaching and assessment methodologies, quality assurance mechanisms, and the challenges of curriculum implementation. She also worked extensively with the International Federation of Medical Students’​ Associations, where her focus turned more to global health topics and curricular gaps in health professionals’ education. In her current role at ScholarRx, Catarina promotes meaningful student engagement in projects and coordinates the development of educational content on global health matters.

ScholarRx launched the Rx Bricks curriculum project to build a sustainable and accessible approach to medical education. Medical education content is delivered in the form of modular, customizable digital learning experiences called “bricks,” each with its own set of learning objectives. In addition, ScholarRx partnered with student organizations to establish the Medical Student Alliance for Global Education (MeSAGE). MeSAGE identifies educational needs and builds innovative, free, and open access content to address key topics and close curricular gaps.

The post TUFH Symposium: A Global, Collaborative Approach to Medical Education appeared first on ScholarRx.

As a result of this partnership, FAMSA becomes a charter member of ScholarRx’s Medical Student Alliance for Global Education, or MeSAGE. MeSAGE empowers student organizations with the tools and expertise to build educational content that is often missing from standard health sciences curriculum.

This partnership will focus on developing curriculum on platforms and policies that are critical to FAMSA, including:

• Global Health Equity
• Fostering Regional and International Cooperation
• Preparing Future Educators and Researchers

Along with helping to drive and develop this curriculum, FAMSA members will be granted access to these materials through the Rx Bricks digital learning system developed by ScholarRx, including the new Rx Bricks Create authoring platform.

Yankuba Jabbie, FAMSA’s president, says, “As a network of African medical students’ associations which has member education and exposure to global standards of learning and practice as top priorities, we are excited to partner with ScholarRx to avail our members the opportunity to learn, share, and contribute to the advancement of medical education in Africa, which will have a cumulative impact on a global scale.”

Dr. Tao Le, founder and CEO of ScholarRx, comments, “Through MeSAGE, we are excited to partner with FAMSA to address deep education needs at a global level and to help future physicians in Africa define, build, and share the key content that may be missing from the standard curriculum.”

About ScholarRx: ScholarRx is a mission-driven organization currently serving over 150,000 medical students and physician learners annually. ScholarRx has developed a revolutionary componentized, multi-competency curricular platform that empowers medical schools and medical student organizations to rapidly develop high-quality education experiences, even in resource-constrained environments. 

About the Federation of African Medical Students’ Associations (FAMSA):  FAMSA is an independent, non-political federation of medical students’ associations in Africa. It was founded in 1968 to foster the spirit of friendship and cooperation among African medical students and presently has about 250 member medical students’ associations across 48 African countries. 

FAMSA has as one of its guiding principles the contribution of African medical students in their respective and collective capacities to the meaningful improvement of the health of the African people. Its work is therefore centred around five major focus areas: medical education and research, health and environment, population activities, professional exchange, and publications. A major objective of FAMSA is to enhance and broaden the general and special education of its members, and it constantly seeks partnerships that facilitate achievement of that goal.

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