Overview of Field
Medical schools provide university level education in medicine. Medicine encompasses all areas related to health care and treatment of diseases.
Online Medical Schools
Online medical schools, as the name implies, provide online medical training. Due to the advancement in telecommunications and the Internet, online education has become a very convenient way of imparting knowledge. Lecture and demonstration videos can be easily accessed and viewed on computers.
Programs offered
Medical education is a complicated field in which text book knowledge has to be accompanied with practical experience. Feasibility studies have been done to explore the benefits and the boundaries of online medical education.
The International Virtual Medical School, a collaboration of various medical schools from many countries, is a prime result of these feasibility studies. This school is offering the first two years of medical school online. The last two have to be completed in a teaching hospital. However, medical education is not just restricted to training doctors. There are various other health care programs, which are successfully provided online, such as programs in health administration, medical assistantship, public health, nutrition, continuing medical education (CME), etc. CMEs are normally diploma programs, which can be as short as a few hours whereas online programs in health administration provide masters and even doctoral degrees.
Admission Requirements
The admission criteria for online medical schools depend on the chosen program. For example Virginia College, a medical school in Virginia, provides bachelors degrees in healthcare administration. They only require a high school diploma for admission. CMEs, on the other hand, require that the applicants are licensed medical doctors.
Coursework
Online degree programs offered by medical schools are usually restricted to health care management and public health. The focus in such programs is on management in the health care industry. CMEs are short duration diploma programs covering almost all the specializations in the field of medicine such as neurology, cardiology, nephrology, internal medicine, psychiatry, etc.
Demand for Online Medical Schools
Online medical schools that provide CME courses are very highly demanded as a certain number of CME credits are required for renewing the licenses of medical professionals. Heath care administration is another rapidly expanding field with jobs available in NGOs and hospitals. On an average, health care managers are making over $60,000 in a year. Online health care degrees are cheaper and more convenient so online medical schools are also demanded for such degrees. In other areas of medicine, the demand for online medical education is still slow as practical experience is a very realistic requirement of medical training, which sets a boundary for complete online education in this subject.