When you’re sick, you go to a doctor to figure out what’s wrong. But how doctors work isn’t some impenetrable mystery. Rather, there’s an art and science that goes into how they diagnose and treat patients.

Where do doctors gain these skills? The answer: the Grand Rounds experience, an essential part of medical students’ education and the ongoing process whereby doctors practice how to make diagnoses by examining real patients. Watching doctors solve medical problems like detectives is a fascinating way to explore medicine. And by understanding how doctors help patients, you’ll

• make better sense of future visits to your doctor;

• improve the way you communicate with your doctor;

• get a rewarding introduction to how doctors think and work; and

• witness critical thinking skills at work in the medical world.

With The Great Courses, you don’t have to soldier through medical school to learn how doctors diagnose and treat patients. All you need is Medical School for Everyone: Grand Rounds Cases, in which Dr. Roy Benaroch, a practicing physician and an adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine, guides you through 24 unique Grand Rounds that reveal insights into how doctors do what they do. Whether you’re a patient, a current or future medical professional, or someone just looking to enjoy a good mystery, you’ll discover how doctors

• use medical science to identify and combat conditions, injuries, and diseases;

• uncover tiny clues patients can sometimes fail to notice;

• sometimes make misdiagnoses that lead to costly (and life-threatening) problems; and

• think their way toward putting patients on the fast track to proper treatment.

Investigate Intriguing Medical Mysteries

Each lecture is a specific Grand Rounds in which you’re presented with a perplexing problem and then follow an expert as he takes the necessary steps to figure out the underlying issue and how best to treat it.
Among the insights you’ll learn are

• what specific questions doctors ask—and why;

• what doctors look for during physical exams or when examining test results; and

• how doctors use a network of information to narrow down a diagnosis.

Drawn from actual medical stories, these 24 Grand Rounds take you everywhere from the calm of a doctor’s office to the chaos of an emergency room.

• A 33-year-old man has a fever he can’t get rid of and mouth sores. Yet he was perfectly healthy two months ago. How does a doctor go from this to discovering one of today’s most notorious diseases?

• A member of an Antarctic expedition, suffering from constant nausea, needs emergency surgery. But he’s the only person who can perform it. Why is this nausea so life threatening?

• You’re the only eyewitness to a horrible motorcycle accident. How does one treat a trauma patient when every second matters? And what happens after you get to the emergency room?

These and other individuals offer intimate ways for you to practice the same strategic thinking and decision-making skills doctors rely on to save lives.

Become a Smarter, Healthier Patient

In the hands of Dr. Benaroch, you’ll get a rewarding learning experience that illustrates his knowledge of medicine and, above all, his ability to transform medical cases into thrilling adventures that will have you thoroughly captivated.

Because Dr. Benaroch can teach off the strengths of his roles as a full-time practicing physician and instructor of pediatrics, you’ll gain medical knowledge in layman’s terms that can be easily understood by the average patient. Couple that with in-studio demonstrations, diagrams of the human body, and other informative visual elements, and you’ve got an exciting new way to think about medicine—and to become the smarter, healthier patient you deserve to be.

About Your Professor

Dr. Roy Benaroch is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine and practices medicine full time at Pediatric Physicians, PC, located near Atlanta, Georgia. He earned his M.D. from Emory University.