Stanford Medicine offers a wide range of online medical learning resources, including podcasts, webinars, and courses with complimentary certificates of completion.
Learners receive an official transcript from Stanford, detailing all the training they have completed. Healthcare professionals can also earn continuing medical education credits (CME credit).
In this article by Class Central, we explore the free online learning options provided by Stanford in the medical sector.
Platform & Audience
Stanford Medicine is the overarching organization that includes the Stanford School of Medicine and Medical Center.
In addition to managing on-campus education and in-hospital training, Stanford Medicine offers an online platform for continuing medical education (CME).
The platform caters to both:
- Healthcare professionals, such as physicians and nurses, as it provides accredited learning resources that can qualify for continuing medical education credit (CME credit).
- The general public, as it does not necessitate a medical background to access the learning materials. Lifelong learners are encouraged to participate.
Offerings: Podcasts to Courses
The platform offers more than just online courses. It also features other resources such as on-demand webinars and podcasts. While it does list paid options like symposiums, our focus here is on the free resources available.
Free Certificates & Credit
An interesting aspect is that all the mentioned resources include a free certificate of completion. This used to be common in online education a decade ago but is now typically behind paywalls.
The field of healthcare, however, values lifelong learning due to the rapid changes and critical nature of the industry. Many countries mandate lifelong learning for healthcare professionals, which may explain the persistence of free certificates in this sector.
Fortunately, on the Stanford Medicine platform, free certificates are available to everyone, with healthcare professionals receiving CME credit while others receive certificates without credit. Additionally, learners have access to a transcript from Stanford displaying completed courses and earned CME credits.
How to Earn Free Certificates & Credit
To learn through the Stanford Medicine platform, secure free certificates, and potentially obtain continuing medical education credit (CME credit), follow these steps:
- Register on Stanford Medicine, where you will specify your profession to determine if your certificates will qualify for CME credit.
- Explore the catalog. While there isn’t a specific “Free” filter, selecting “On-Demand” in the Activity Type filter will reveal numerous open resources with free certificates and CME credit. Ensure the course dates are valid to receive a certificate and credit.
- Enroll, claim your certificate & credit. Upon completing a course, claim your certificate and credit through the course’s catalog page. Some courses may require an assessment to unlock the certificate. Certificates can be received via email or downloaded from this page while logged into Stanford Medicine. Download certificates before they expire in 1-3 months.
- Pat revised the latest version of this article.
