What's the best way to learn about medicine BEFORE medical school?

Its awesome that you know what you want to do with your life at such a young age, and you want to help others! If you are really interested in medicine and how the human body works I suggest that you read everything you can get your hands on that is about medicine. Books, textbooks, science magazines that have new theories and discoveries. Also try to find any opportunities to volunteer or intern at hospitals or clinics soon so you will know if medicine is really what you want to do, that way you wont waste thousands of dollars and years of schooling to later find out you don't want to be a doctor! Lastly talk to guidance counselors at your school so they can tell you what some of your choices are in the way of colleges and courses. Also talk to doctors who have been practicing medicine for a while, they have LOTS of advice and would be glad to help you!!!

Don't worry too much about it now since you will have plenty of time to learn all you need to know about medicine later. The key is to make sure you really want to be in the medical field so volunteering in a hospital or shadowing a physician is a good start to give you taste. Also understand that it is a long road:

4 years of college which you need to fufill the pre-med requirements (biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics)

4 years of medical school

Residency (depending on your specialty, it can be 3-7 years)

Fellowship (optional; usually 1-3 additional years).

You just need to work hard, especially in college in which a strong science GPA is crucial to getting into medical school. If you have a research interest, exploring that will also help your chances (i.e. working in a research lab in college).

Part of the medical school application requires some hours of volunteering or research. Even if this is not required for you given the agreement you have with your program you would still benefit from volunteering or shadowing a doctor. Learning medicine requires hands on experience and this is best done at your level by shadowing. You will pick up basic information and knowledge this way.

Libraries carry many of the same books that are use in medical school.. Often, the books are older editions but contain the same information (colleges tend to use an editon for only two years and then switch to a new edition). Also, you could order books online. All the informaton doctors have is in books: reading CT scans, MRI's, angiograms, ECG's, EEG's, anatomy, physiology, diseases, treatments, etc. All you have to do is look. If you intend to read any books on physiology I would suggest getting a basic college biology textbook and a basic college chemistry textbook.

Try doing volunteer work at a local hospital or clinic. You'll get to see how doctors actually practice medicine. Any exposure to the reality of medicine will certainly help you when it comes to the theory of medicine as taught in med school. Plus you build good karma points for doing good and helping others.

I guess you have to come up with something you like to do in the field of medicine. Do you like to help people with problems? Then be a psychotherapist / psychologist. If you want to prescribe medications to the depressed, be a psychiatrist. Do you like to diagnose health problems? Study up on your diseases. If you are into doing surgery, you need to learn anatomy, and lots of it. If you want to do prescriptions, you need to learn lots of chemistry. You'd have to decide where your strengths are and what you are interested in doing.

take a pharmacology class