Location

FPA summer camps are held on the University of Central Florida campus, located at 4000 Central Florida Blvd. Orlando, Florida. UCF’s 1,415-acre main campus in east Orlando is impressive in size and even bigger in potential. Modern facilities and state-of-the-art technology keep you connected to classwork and social communities, while 800 acres of woodlands, lakes and an arboretum help you reconnect with nature. Whether you’re inside a classroom or outside exploring, our campus is an exciting place to learn — and an easy place to love.

Information

HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM

FPA offers six weeks of summer programming. The Trauma & Surgical Skills, Cardiology & Resuscitation, Neurology and the Genetics, Forensics, & More courses can each be taken as stand-alone courses. In order to take the Medical Writing & Publishing course, students must take 3 out of 4 hands-on courses (Trauma & Surgical Skills, Cardiology & Resuscitation, Neurology, or Genetics, Forensics, & More). In order to participate in the Clinical Research Program, students must take all four of the clincial courses. Students who take all 6 courses can obtain a certificate designating this as a full summer medical internship.

1) The Cardiology and Resuscitation course (June 3-7, 2024) is an intensive one-week camp covering courses designed by the American Heart Association and American Red Cross. Students get the same official course certifications that medical house officers receive. During this week we do hands-on medical simulation, a heart dissection, and delve into acute care resuscitation topics. We will also complete a course on EKG interpretation, and learn how to read a chest x-ray.

2) The Trauma and Surgical Skills program (Session I: June 10-14, 2024; Session II: July 15-19, 2024) teaches hands-on skills such as suturing, splinting, basic point of care ultrasonography, airway management, history and physical examination skills. We also have formal didactics on special topics in medicine. We will solve various clinical cases using problem-solving skills, including laboratory and imaging interpretation.

3) The Medical writing & publishing course (June 17-21, 2024) introduces students to medical writing, study design, and how to search the medical literature and report results to support their work. We will also learn how to critically appraise published works. Students work on an individual project that will be published in a Pubmed indexed peer-reviewed medical journal. All students are first authors on their paper.

4) The Neurology course (June 24-28, 2024) covers stroke, epilepsy, brain injury, headache, CNS infections and more. We learn how to use a reflex hammer, perform a lumbar puncture, use a peripheral nerve stimulator, perform cerebrospinal fluid analysis, obtain certifications from the American Stroke Association, and learn how to read a brain computed tomography (CT) scan. We keep it intriguing, and even solve a neurologic emergency in an escape room setting. We partner with the American Academy of Neurology for this course.

5) The Forensics, Genetics & More course (July 1-5, 2024) is a hands-on laboratory medicine program where we learn about select diseases and pair them with relevant lab testing.  We will learn about ABO blood typing and put it into action with the lab ‘whose baby is it?” We will create DNA models, and manually make the sequences that result in diseases such as sickle cell anemia.  We will solve a murder mystery using forensic skills that depend on laboratory techniques such as polymerase chain reaction , gel eletrophresis and DNA fingerprinting.

6) The Clinical Research program (July 8-13, 2024). Students are introduced to research methodology and biostatistics in medicine, and work on their own individual dataset. They will learn how to code variables, and how to write questions to get the information they need. Once data collection is complete, students will learn how to analyze these results and write them up for publication. All students are first authors on their research paper, which will be published in a Pubmed indexed peer-reviewed medical journal. Students will also learn how to write a research abstract and present their work at the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine meeting on July 13th, 2024.

VIRTUAL OPTIONS

For students who are unable to join us in person, we offer the Cardiology and Resuscitation course virtually from July 15-19, 2024. This course has more of an independent study component, where students receive the course material after registration. Class time is used for exam review.

MINI MEDICAL SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS IN GRADES 4-8

MINI-MEDICAL SCHOOL introduces students in grades 4-8 to the wonders of medicine through hands-on exploration and lectures. Activities include how to take a  patient history and obtain a review of systems. We will learn to use the Physician's tools- such as the stethoscope, otoscope, sphygmomanometer & more. Students will also get their own suturing kit and learn how to splint broken bones and control life-threatening bleeding. Students become certified by the American Red Cross in First Aid; optional babysitting certification can also be obtained. Students also get to hear from professionals in various healthcare fields and test their knowledge in mini-competitions with prizes.             

Dates & Location:

May 28- 31, 2024: University of Central Florida

Tuition: $1000