Breast Health

This Breast Health introductory course provides foundational theoretical and practical knowledge and skills including how to provide effective counseling regarding breast health. All components of this training are free, including registration, learning, testing, and a certificate of completion. This course is intended for physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals in training and in practice.

This Breast Health course was developed in partnership with the University of Florida through the affiliation of the course creator, Maryam Sattari, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine. Like all NextGenU courses, this course is competency-based and uses adapted Breast Health competencies outlined in Educational Objectives: Core Curriculum in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10th Edition (designed by affiliates of the Education Committee of the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG)). It also uses resources from world-class organizations such as Johns Hopkins Medicine, the National Cancer Institute, and the U.S. Preventive Task Force. The course was developed by Maryam Sattari, MD, MS with advice from Erica Frank, MD, MPH, and several faculty members of the University of Florida.

For a publication on this course’s efficacy, see “Building Public Health Capacity through Online Global Learning,” (2018), Open Praxis, https://openpraxis.org/index.php/OpenPraxis/article/view/746/427; to see more research related to NextGenU.org’s education model, check out NextGenU.org’s publication page.

There are 7 modules to complete, which provide: 

  1. A basic introduction to the anatomy and physiology of the breast, benign disorders of the breast; 
  2. Routine screening approaches to selected diseases of the breast;
  3. Epidemiology and risk assessment of breast cancer;
  4. Basic mechanisms of genetic inheritance of breast cancer, and diagnosis of breast cancer.
University Of Florida Health

Approximate time required for the required readings for the course is 12 hours at an average reading rate of 144 words/minute; in addition, there are required activities.

The course requires the completion of all peer activities. At the end of each lesson, there is a practice quiz. At the end of the course, after you’ve completed each lesson, quiz, and activity, you’ll have access to a final exam, and a chance to assess the training. Once you’ve passed that last test, you will be able to download a certificate of completion from NextGenU.org and our course’s co-sponsoring organizations (listed above). We keep all of your personal information confidential, never sell any of your information, and only use anonymized data for research purposes, and we are also happy to report your testing information and share your work with anyone (your school, employer, etc.) at your request. We hope that you will find this a rewarding learning experience, and we count on your assessment and feedback to help us improve this training for future students.

Engaging with this Course:  

You may browse this course for free to learn for your personal enrichment; there are no requirements.

To obtain a certificate
  • Show in the registration fields that you have the appropriate prerequisites to be certified. This course requires a college-level degree.
  • Complete all the reading requirements.
  • Complete all quizzes.
  • Complete 5 peer activity and associated certification quizzes.
  • Successfully complete the final exam with a minimum of 70%  and a maximum of 3 attempts.
  • Complete the self and course evaluation forms.
To obtain credit 
  • Complete all requirements listed above for the certificate. 
  • Your learning institution or workplace should approve the partner-university-sponsored NextGenU.org course for educational credit, as they would for their learner taking a course anywhere.  
    • NextGenU.org is happy to provide your institution with:
      • a link to and description of the course training, so they can see all its components, including the cosponsoring universities and other professional organization cosponsors; 
      • your grade on the final exam;
      • your work products (e.g. peer and mentored activities), and any other required or optional shared materials that you produce and authorize to share with them;  
      • your evaluations — self-, peer-, and [for mentored courses] mentor assessments;
      • a copy of your certificate of completion, with the co-sponsoring universities and other organizations listed.

To obtain a degree co-sponsored with NextGenU.org, registrants must be enrolled in a degree program as a student of a NextGenU.org institutional partner. If you think that your institution might be interested in offering a degree with NextGenU.org contact us.

We hope that you will find this a rewarding learning experience, and we count on your assessment and feedback to help us improve this training for future students.

Next Steps

  • Complete the registration form.
  • Begin the course with Module 1: Anatomy of the Breast