Baystate Medical Center’s Mini-Medical School Begins March 24

SPRINGFIELD — Baystate Medical Center’s Mini-Medical School will begin its spring session on March 24, offering adults a glimpse into the expanding field of medicine without resorting to complex terms.
Mini-Medical School is an eight-week health-education series featuring a different aspect of medicine each week. Classes this spring will include sessions on topics such as geriatrics, breast cancer, stroke/rehabilitation, surgery, anesthesiology, pathology, infectious diseases, and several others.
Many of the ‘students,’ who often range in age from 20 to 70, participate due to a general interest in medicine and later find that many of the things they learned over the semester are relevant to their own lives. The goal of the program, offered in the hospital’s Chestnut Conference Center, is to help members of the public make more informed decisions about their healthcare while receiving insight on what it is like to be a medical student — minus the pop quizzes and late-night study sessions. Participants won’t walk away with a license to practice medicine, but will have a better understanding of the human body, how it works, and how medical advances affect their lives.
Each course is taught by the teaching hospital’s faculty, who explain the science of medicine without resorting to complex terms. All classes are held Thursday nights starting at 6 p.m. and run until 8 or 9 p.m., depending on the night’s topic. No basic science knowledge is needed to participate. Each participant is required to attend a minimum of six out of eight classes in order to receive a certificate of completion.
Tuition is $95 per person and $80 for Senior Class and Spirit of Women members. To register, call (800) 377-4325. For more information and a list of class topics, or to register online, visit www.baystatehealth.org/minimed.