Free Online Courses That Pair Well With Your Medical Internship

Interning abroad is a powerful way to gain hands-on clinical exposure and explore global health. But if you want to make the most of your experience in Kenya or Tanzania, supplementing your internship with a few free online courses can give you an extra edge—especially before you step into the hospital.

Whether you’re a pre-med, nursing, PA, dental, or public health student, the right online course can boost your medical knowledge, sharpen your clinical reasoning, and help you feel more confident when shadowing doctors or assisting in real-world hospital settings.

In this guide, we’ve curated a list of the best free online courses that pair exceptionally well with an internship abroad.

> Explore Go-Elective PreMed, Pre-PA and Medical Internships Abroad

Why Take an Online Course Before or During Your Internship?

Even though Go Elective internships are immersive and highly practical, combining them with focused online coursework helps you:

Build baseline medical knowledge (especially if you’re early in your studies)
Understand clinical terminology and common procedures
Enhance your resume or application with additional certifications
Ask better questions during rounds or shadowing
Transition smoothly into more advanced clinical learning

Plus, many of these courses offer certificates of completion you can reference on your PA, med, or nursing school application.

Top Free Online Courses for Pre-Health Students

Introduction to Global Health – Coursera (Offered by the University of Copenhagen)

This popular course is ideal for students preparing to intern in a low-resource setting like Kenya or Tanzania. It covers global disease burden, health systems, and key global health concepts.

Duration: ~8 weeks (self-paced)
Great for: Pre-med, pre-PA, nursing, and public health students
Link: Introduction to Global Health

Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body Is Telling Us – Coursera (University of Pennsylvania)

Before entering a hospital environment, this course provides a crash course in reading vital signs—an essential skill when shadowing in wards or the emergency department.

Duration: ~6 hours total
Great for: First-time interns, pre-clinical students
Link: Vital Signs Course

Anatomy and Physiology – OpenStax (Rice University)

If you want a deeper understanding of human biology to support what you're seeing in the hospital (especially in surgery or maternity), OpenStax offers a comprehensive free textbook and course on A&P.

Format: Textbook + study resources
Great for: Pre-nursing, pre-med, pre-PA
Link: Anatomy & Physiology by OpenStax

Clinical Terminology for International and U.S. Students – Coursera (University of Pittsburgh)

Want to understand what the doctors are saying during ward rounds? This course demystifies medical vocabulary, abbreviations, and EHR terminology.

Duration: ~7 hours
Great for: Early-stage students, international interns
Link: Clinical Terminology Course

Essentials of Human Physiology – edX (Georgetown University)

This free offering covers cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal systems—all areas you’ll encounter in any Go Elective placement hospital.

Duration: Self-paced
Great for: Pre-med and PA students prepping for a hospital internship
Link: Essentials of Physiology

Understanding Patient Care: An Introduction for Health Students – FutureLearn (University of Glasgow)

This course walks you through the basics of patient interaction, communication, and multidisciplinary teamwork in hospitals—valuable when shadowing in large teaching facilities like Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital.

Duration: ~2 weeks
Great for: Pre-health students preparing for their first hospital exposure
Link: Understanding Patient Care

Public Health & Community Engagement Courses

If you’re doing a Public Health Internship or working in community outreach, consider these:

Disease Prevention & Health Promotion – WHO’s OpenWHO platform
Visit Course
Foundations of Public Health Practice – Coursera (University of Michigan)
Visit Course

These will enhance your ability to understand vaccination drives, sanitation efforts, and maternal health outreach in local communities.

Bonus: Stanford Online’s “COVID-19 Training for Healthcare Workers”

While COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency, this free course gives solid foundations in infection control, PPE usage, and hospital protocols—all of which remain highly relevant in many African clinical settings.

Duration: ~3 hours
Great for: Anyone interning in inpatient units or surgical wards
Link: Stanford COVID-19 Training

How to Integrate Online Learning Into Your Internship

Here’s how students often combine online learning with their Go Elective experience:

Before travel: Complete a core course (e.g., global health or vital signs) to build confidence.
During placement: Review anatomy or physiology lessons in the evenings to reinforce what you observed.
After the internship: Use free certificates or reflections from your course to enrich your med or PA school applications.

Final Thoughts: Combine Clinical Experience with Knowledge

Free online courses are a smart, accessible way to prepare for and deepen your global health internship. When paired with a real-world placement at a referral hospital in Kenya or Tanzania, they can elevate your learning and make you stand out as an informed, intentional pre-health applicant.

Interning with Go Elective gives you unmatched exposure—but taking time to understand the theory behind the practice? That’s how you stand out.