History:

Medical Explorers is a program that was developed and launched in 2018 at Heritage Middle School in Liberty, MO. MedEx was created with the intention of increasing exposure to health care at an earlier age while emphasizing the value in family medicine. The curriculum is focused on different hands-on workshops that showcase the variety, excitement, and need for primary care. Also, practical education was incorporated such as CPR basics, the FAST Stroke rules, and how to use an Epi-pen. MedEx is unique because even though there are a lot of opportunities for high schoolers to get involved with different healthcare opportunities, the options for middle schools seem to be almost non-existent. We believe that educating and exposing middle school students to family medicine will help to increase the future primary care workforce. Moreover, these workshops allow students to gain enthusiasm about their future possibilities and will give them the motivation to excel in their studies. We are also excited to welcome back former students who have excelled in MedEx to come back when they are in high school to help teach the course and gain healthcare leadership experience!

Goals:

• To provide early, consistent exposure to healthcare and improve healthcare literacy
• To provide an easily accessible and implementable program for any middle school wanting to include more healthcare education in their curriculum.

School/Classroom Details:

• Supplies needed for the entire year are shipped to the teacher before the beginning of the school year/semester.
• All online curriculum is accessed through an online portal that provides access to 34 lesson plans, instructional videos, PowerPoints, worksheets, surveys, tests, etc.
• Medical Explorers is most successful when paired with a local medical professional who can come and facilitate some of the more challenging, hands-on topics (normally 2-3 one hour sessions per semester).
• The other workshops are taught by a teacher or school nurse within the middle school.
• The Medical Explorers program if flexible and customizable. Schools have the ability to implement MedEx as an elective, mandatory course, or even an after-school interest group.