Having finished my first year at medical school, one of the most valuable resources I saw myself constantly turning to when I needed a simple, easy-to-understand Explanation of a Topic is YOUTUBE! Offer me a chapter from a textbook or a YouTube video, I will opt for the video every single time. If someone had told me that this is what I would resort to before I had started med school, I don’t think I would have believed them. But, if you know where to look and search for the right channels, a video explanation can be the best thing you could ask for. So here are 5 of my favourite channels for pre-clinical medicine that you definitely need to get down to survive medical school…

Subscriber count: 387,742

This one comes right at the top of my list, because it was indeed the first YouTube channel I began using for learning. When you’re reading about the anatomical arrangement of vessels in a textbook, nothing seems to quite make sense. These videos talk through a topic it small chunks and allow you to visualise the structures so the jargon in the textbook makes much better sense. I would especially recommend using this channel when you start a new topic in Anatomy to help you orientate yourself.

Subscriber count: 257,833

This is my go-to channel for any physiology that I’m struggling with. The channel slogan of Difficult concepts, Simple explanationscouldn’t be more correct. They have a vast number of videos, of different processes and mechanisms all explained clearly in a logical manner. The detail is definitely there, but it’s delivered in small understandable chunks, making it an ideal source to use, especially to support topics that have been covered in lectures that you might have had. And as a plus, the lecturer uses some pretty colourful handwritten notes to supplement the explanations.

Subscriber count: 495,326

I love the Osmosis videos, genuinely. This channel is great for specific diseases and explanations regarding their pathophysiology. The kinetics of the video is great, with lots of diagrams and flowcharts. Adapting the famous words of a picture is worth a thousand words, a diagram must therefore be worth a million. The visual aspect of these explanations definitely sticks in your head and is just the best resource to get an overview on any medical condition you might need!

Subscriber count: 697,137

This is another great channel encompassing both physiology and pathophysiology. The videos provide in-depth overviews of particular topics and the organisation of information into diagrams and charts are so helpful in getting them to stick in your brain. Clear, concise and well-presented topics that are definitely worth a watch to clarify virtually any medical topic that hasn’t seemed to click right away.

Subscriber count: 179,527

This is a more recent channel I came across. The videos are more like a traditional lecture with very in-depth and clear explanations. The channel answers specific questions and tends to have a more clinical focus to it. I find the videos particularly useful for completing certain areas of my PBL learning agenda, such as the description and interpretation of clinical examinations. I can see this channel becoming more and more useful as I progress through the years, may be even for exams such as the Progress Test in later years.

Hope you find the channels above as useful as I do, and make sure to let me know any others that you really like in the comments below!