Science & Economics
Healthcare and medicine
The medical world can be a confusing place. Patients and their families might feel overwhelmed by the large vocabularies and complicated explanations they get from their health care providers. Students entering health care also struggle to grasp the complexity of health sciences, and are forced to memorize huge amounts of information. We hope to make understanding the medical world a bit easier. Look around!
These videos do not provide medical advice and are for informational purposes only. The videos are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions you may have
regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or seen in any Khan Academy video.
Community Questions
2
MCAT Video Competition
Make videos for our MCAT Video Competition!
More details at:
https://www.khanacademy.org/about/med-competition
30
1
The Heart
Your heart sits in the middle of your chest and pumps blood from about 4 weeks after conception until the day that you die. It never stops, and over your lifetime it will pump ~175 million liters of blood. To visualize that, imagine the amount of water that falls over Niagara falls in a few minutes. Remarkable! This little pump is the size of your clenched fist and in an adult can weigh about 300 grams. Watch these videos to learn more about how the heart works, blood flow in arteries and veins, and blood pressure.
17
The Lungs
Get a better understanding of how your lungs help you to sing and survive!
18
Influenza
Most people have had the flu virus at least once in their lives, and it’s usually not a pleasant experience… Fight back with some good information! Learn about typical flu symptoms (and how tell it apart from the cold), and how the flu virus invades your cells to cause disease. Finally, learn how flu vaccines may help prevent you from getting sick, and how we can test and treat the flu just in case you get really ill. Stay healthy, my friends!
5
Blood
Find out what's inside of blood
6
Blood Vessel Diseases
Learn about how arteries differ from veins and how arteries can get damaged over time.
10
Fetal Circulation
Find out how the heart and circulatory system work in the fetus!
5
Arterial Stiffness
Find out why having "stiff arteries" can increase blood pressure and cause uneven blood flow. It all comes back to the idea of "total energy"!
5
Healthy Lifestyle
Learn some of the fundamentals behind staying healthy: Reducing your salt, keeping your weight in a healthy range, and exercising regularly.
7
Endocrinology and Diabetes
Learn about hormones and diabetes, as well as some important information on glucose control.
6
Health Care System
Learn some basics about the Health Care system in the US
4
Colon Disease
Get a ring-side seat as a pathologist talks about colon cells under the microscope.
3
Cervical Spine
Learn about the cervical (neck) spine through an Xray!
5
Hypertension
Learn all about hypertension: symptoms, diagnosis, and how lifestyle changes can make a difference!
10
Lab Values and Concentrations
Ever wonder about your lab values and what they mean? Lab values measure amounts of electrolytes or cells in your blood and occasionally tell you about how hormones and enzymes are working! Dive deeper and get a good understanding of concentrations as well!
4
Heart Disease and Stroke
Find out what can cause a heart disease and stroke, and how the two are related!
7
Heart Muscle Contraction
Find out more about heart muscles and what happens when they contract.
11
Heart Depolarization
Check out the flow of positive charge through the heart that happens every time your heart beats! Learn how the heart is able to keep a regular rate and rhythm throughout your life.
5
Nerve Regulation of the Heart
Learn how the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves regulate your heart in so many different ways!
12
Pressure Volume Loops
Watch as the pressure and amount of blood inside the left ventricle go up and down within fractions of a second!
10
Changing the PV Loop
Find out how preload, afterload, and contractility work together to change your PV Loop (and affect stroke volume and cardiac output)!
9
Preload and Afterload
Find out exactly what preload and afterload mean, and why most of us use a handy shortcut to guess-timating what they are!
4
Miscellaneous
Enjoy!
Healthcare and medicine
-
Healthcare and medicine
- Community Questions
- Topics
- MCAT Video Competition
- The Heart
- The Lungs
- Influenza
- Blood
- Blood Vessel Diseases
- Fetal Circulation
- Arterial Stiffness
- Healthy Lifestyle
- Endocrinology and Diabetes
- Health Care System
- Colon Disease
- Cervical Spine
- Hypertension
- Lab Values and Concentrations
- Heart Disease and Stroke
- Heart Muscle Contraction
- Heart Depolarization
- Nerve Regulation of the Heart
- Pressure Volume Loops
- Changing the PV Loop
- Preload and Afterload
- Miscellaneous
Give a great answer
Be a guide
We're teaching each other – so don't just answer "Yes" or "No", share your answer the way your favorite teacher would.
Vote, don't echo
If someone has already answered the question well, don't repeat their answer – vote it up instead.
Flag inappropriate posts
Here are posts to avoid making. If you do encounter them, flag them for attention from our Guardians.
abuse
- disrespectful or offensive
- an advertisement
not helpful
- low quality
- not about the video topic
- soliciting votes or seeking badges
- a homework question
- a duplicate answer
- repeatedly making the same post
wrong category
- a tip or feedback in Questions
- an answer that should be its own question