Use actual case studies or combine multiple cases to create a series of fictitious illnesses or incidence of disease. Create an actual medical history for the patient and provide the students with a list of problems, symptoms and lifestyle information. Ask the students to examine the content and then make a report based on their findings,
Provide a problem list for Patient A. Ask the students to examine the physiological and psychological symptoms reported by the patient and diagnose his medical problem(s) based on the information provided. Encourage the students to examine the pathophysiology symptoms present at the time of the patient's examination, as well as those medical facts reported in the patient's medical history, to determine a clinical analysis of the patient's potential for future disease. Ask the students to make a correlation between the disease processes experienced at the time of the reported symptoms and the final diagnosis given to Patient A by the student.
Ask the students to present the findings. Request that each student (or group) provide medical reasoning for each problem and create the most effective and safe plan for confirming the diagnosis and treating the problem.
Provide several problems, with conflicting evidence for and against common diagnosis. This will challenge the students and encourage them to think multilaterally about disease and health care.
Ask students to react to common medical problems and explain how they would diagnose and treat the patient. Ask the students to cite similar cases or case studies in which similar symptoms were reported and treatment was successfully performed. Guide students by explaining the importance of citing cases from patients with similar backgrounds and medical histories. For example, a patient's lifestyle, eating habits, ethnic background, country of origin and family history would all need to match, or at least overlap. A 7-year-old girl would not be compared to an adult male, for example.
Encourage students to identify socioeconomic factors that influence a patient's health. Use case studies to create an assignment, then ask the students to draw conclusions based on that information. For example, ask students to examine the rate of HIV/AIDS in whites in rural areas or blacks in inner cities to arrive at the differing reasons for changes in the rate of exposure in both groups. The assignment would need to be broken down by gender, age, education level. as well as the environmental conditions present in the rural areas and inner cities chosen. Ask the students to consider factors such as cultural attitudes toward sex, social attitudes toward medicine and other components you wish to include.