Communication comes in many forms and is a part of everything we do. It is even more critical when we talk about understanding and making important health decisions. The following resources bring awareness to the importance of communication, whether a patient or provider, and how health literacy plays an important role in clear, understandable communication.

In this 95-minute lesson, students will be able to:
-Understand the importance of having health insurance
-Identify the various costs affiliated with having health insurance
-Explain how health insurance works and the different types of plans available to them
-Understand how government healthcare programs like Medicaid and CHIP work and who qualifies for them
-Explore steps they can take to lower their medical costs

Health Literacy 101 is an educational program developed by Wisconsin Health Literacy to help students learn the importance and impact of health literacy in the health profession, strategies for better communication, and how health literacy can be applied as a patient for better health.

A main concern of shoe engineers is creating shoes that provide the right amount of arch support to prevent (or fix) common gait misalignments that lead to injury. During this activity, students look at their own footprints and determine whether they have either of the two most prominent gait misalignments: overpronation (collapsing arches) or supination (high arches). Knowing the shape of a person's foot, and their natural arch movement is necessary to design shoes to fix these gain alignments.

Students further their understanding of the engineering design process while combining mechanical engineering and bioengineering to create an automated medical device. During the activity, students are given a fictional client statement and are required to follow the steps of the design process to create medical devices that help reduce the workload for hospital workers and increase the quality of patient care.

Students are introduced to a challenge question. Towards answering the question, they generate ideas for what they need to know about medicines and how they move through our bodies, watch a few short videos to gain multiple perspectives, and then learn lecture material to obtain a basic understanding of how antibiotics kill bacteria in the human body. They learn why different forms of medicine (pill, liquid or shot) get into the blood stream at different speeds.

This is a short video that explains germs and why some germs are harmful and others are not. A great addition to any lesson on infectious diseases or how germs spread.

This website provides information regarding the indicators of intellectual, emotional, social, and physical health. A description of the indicators of health in each of these areas is provided, along with tips on how to reach optimal wellness. The website is very clear and informative to educate students regarding dimensions of health, how to recognize intellectual/emotional/social/physical health, and how to achieve wellness. As a supplemental activity to check for understanding, teachers can distribute the worksheet quiz linked in WISELearn. The worksheet provides 8 scenarios, and students must identify if the scenario describes physical, emotional, social, or intellectual indicators of health. The student must also identify if the patient is in good or poor health in that dimension. An answer key is provided on WISELearn.

This seminar will explore the difficulties of getting agreement on global definitions of sustainability; in particularly building international support for efforts to combat climate change created by greenhouse gas emissions as well as other international resource management efforts. We will focus on possible changes in the way global environmental agreements are formulated and implemented, especially on ways of shifting from the current "pollution control" approach to combating climate change to a more comprehensive strategy for taking advantage of sustainable development opportunities.

Acting as if they are biomedical engineers, students design and print 3D prototypes of pressure sensors that measure the pressure of the eyes of people diagnosed with glaucoma. After completing the tasks within the associated lesson, students conduct research on pressure gauges, apply their understanding of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology and its components, iterate their designs to make improvements, and use 3D software to design and print 3D prototypes. After successful 3D printing, teams present their models to their peers. If a 3D printer is not available, use alternate fabrication materials such as modeling clay, or end the activity once the designs are complete.

A specific skill that was shared by the Laboratory Scientist during the teacher externship experience at HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital was the ability to use a bulb pipette accurately. In this lesson, students will gain experience in problem solving and teamwork as they practice reading graduated marks on the side of a pipette and filling a pipette to several different requested levels.

A specific skill that was shared by the respiratory therapist during the teacher externship experience at HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital was the ability to read a Broselow Pediatric Reference Tape accurately in an emergency situation. In this lesson, students will gain experience in problem solving and teamwork as they practice using a Broselow Pediatric Reference Tape to measure a variety of “patients” and then apply that measurement correctly when answering associated questions.

Students work as biomedical engineers to find liquid solutions that can clear away polyvinyl acetate polymer "blood clots" in model arteries (made of clear, flexible tubing). Teams create samples of the "blood clot" polymer with different concentrations to discover the concentration of the model clot and then test a variety of liquids to determine which most effectively breaks down the model blood clot. Students learn the importance of the testing phase in the engineering design process, because they are only given one chance to present the team's solution and apply it to the model blood clot.

Students learn the function of the liver and how biomedical engineers can use liver regeneration to help people. Students test the effects of toxic chemicals on a beef liver by adding hydrogen peroxide to various liver and salt solutions. They observe, record and graph their results.

Students create large-scale models of microfluidic devices using a process similar to that of the PDMS and plasma bonding that is used in the creation of lab-on-a-chip devices. They use disposable foam plates, plastic bendable straws and gelatin dessert mix. After the molds have hardened overnight, they use plastic syringes to inject their model devices with colored fluid to test various flow rates. From what they learn, students are able to answer the challenge question presented in lesson 1 of this unit by writing individual explanation statements.

Market to Market is a part of the Iowa Public Television. The website includes videos of feature stories and market analysis by analyst Ted Seifried. In addition, there is Market to Market in the classroom where there are videos on business, technology and science of agriculture.

Medical Terminology for Healthcare Professions is an Open Educational Resource (OER) that focuses on breaking down, pronouncing, and learning the meaning of medical terms within the context of anatomy and physiology. This resource is targeted for Healthcare Administration, Health Sciences, and Pre-Professional students.

Students obtain a basic understanding of microfluidic devices, how they are developed and their uses in the medical field. After conducting the associated activity, they watch a video clip and learn about flow rate and how this relates to the speed at which medicine takes effect in the body. What they learn contributes to their ongoing objective to answer the challenge question presented in lesson 1 of this unit. They conclude by solving flow rate problems provided on a worksheet.

Students use provided materials to design and build prototype artificial heart valves. Their functioning is demonstrated using water to simulate the flow of blood through the heart. Upon completion, teams demonstrate their fully functional prototypes to the rest of the class, along with a pamphlet that describes the device and how it works.