As part of the coursework for Instructional Strategies and Assessment Methods and Computer-Based Training, I designed and developed a blended learning course on a health-related topic. The overview is below, and the content and document links are available under the course menus above.
Learn How to Lower Your Cholesterol Without Statin Drugs
Modern cardiology has given up on curing heart disease. -Caldwell Esselstyn, American Journal of Cardiology
Course Overview
More and more Americans are being told to take cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to control heart disease. If the 2013 guidelines recommended by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association were followed, roughly half of all Americans over 40 would be taking statins. However, the real-life benefit of the drug has proven to be minimal, and statins cause adverse side effects. Statin drugs work to control only one factor that contributes to heart disease (elevated cholesterol), and if no other lifestyle or dietary changes are made, existing conditions will still be contributing to disease progression. Patients should be taught that there is another way to lower cholesterol and to halt and reverse heart disease without the use of medication. Once informed of the correlation between diet and heart disease, patients will be empowered to utilize other options to improve their health.
The aim of this course is to help those diagnosed with high cholesterol reduce or avoid the use of statin drugs by helping them:
- Understand the basic principles of the cardio-vascular system and the impacts of pharmaceuticals and nutrition on the body
- Apply health-promoting knowledge and skills in real-world settings
- Acknowledge and transform personal beliefs or biases that may negatively impact health
- Distinguish between evidence-based health information and poor journalism or bad science
- Identify resources and tools they can use to support improved health.
Primary Audience
- An adult man or woman who is currently taking statins or someone whose doctor
recently recommended medication to treat or prevent heart disease and high cholesterol
Secondary Audience
- Family member, friend or caregiver of a statin-user who wants to support their loved-one’s transition to a healthy lifestyle
- An employer that provides healthcare insurance benefits who wants to reduce healthcare costs and who needs information on how to support the health and wellness of their employees
- Healthcare providers or insurance companies who are looking to reduce costs and to provide their members information on alternative resources for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease
This blended-learning course will include web-based media as well as instructor-led, face-to-face sessions in various settings (lab kitchen, home kitchen, grocery store and restaurant).
Esselstyn, C.B. Jr. (August, 1999) Updating a 12-Year Experience With Arrest and Reversal Therapy for Coronary Heart Disease (An Overdue Requiem for Palliative Cardiology). American Journal of Cardiology. 84(3):339-41.
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