Students get up-close look at healthcare during Health Science Academy

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Students get up-close look at healthcare during Health Science Academy

On Dec. 3, a 60-year-old female arrived at Gundersen St. Joseph's Hospital complaining of abdominal pain after falling in her home. She was transported to the Emergency Department by ambulance, where she then underwent a series of tests, including CT scans, blood draws and x-rays.

While being tended to, the patient was surrounded by a group of curious high school students who were watching the ER nurses go through their paces as if it were a real emergency. Luckily, that day, it wasn't.

Rather, it was the students' first stop during Gundersen St. Joseph's Health Science Academy. It's a program hosted by the hospital that allows juniors from six area high schools to get an up-close look at the various departments within the hospital - showing the continuum of care a patient could receive from admission to discharge.

According to human resources manager Megan Wopat, this is the second academy the hospital has hosted, but the first using this format following one patient each step of the way. These patients - three volunteer actors - each started in the emergency room, where they were triaged, before moving into surgery, which was performed by the hospital's da Vinci robot.

Following, surgery, the patient was taken to the hospital for an overnight stay, then moved to swing bed for post-acute care, where she underwent occupational and physical therapy. Follow-up care took place in family medicine, and the patient spoke to a therapist to talk about her anxiety.

Throughout the morning, the students observed providers working in their element, communicating to one another and other departments the way they would have had this been a real situation. But there were also pauses in the action that allowed them to ask questions about what they were seeing and even jump in and try the different procedures they were most interested in.

Prior to the event, students were surveyed to see what departments they were most interested in learning more about. They, then, were the first ones asked to participate if volunteers were needed.

That morning, Caleb Vande Hei, a nurse in the ER, demonstrated his tasks in the department, which includes starting an IV line, something he helped several of the students attempt. He says having them come through the various departments to get a first-hand look at the variety of jobs gives them a good idea of what they do.

"I feel like this, especially, gives them a better idea of what we do as a nurse on a regular basis," he says. "They get a really good glimpse of the flow that could happen in the emergency room."

Vande Hei hopes that as the students see all the different areas of care in the hospital, one catches their attention, be it in the ER or somewhere else.

"I want this to pique their interest to, one, see if they they're interested in one of the fields, like an emergency room nurse," he says. "And second, I want them to feel more comfortable if they end up having an emergency and need to come in and see me here."

For Cashton junior Lyla Schmitz, seeing all the different departments that touch a single patient was eye opening. She liked observing the entire spectrum of care, and she was particularly drawn to a nurse who oversaw the whole process.

"Definitely the RN who initially greeted the patient when she came in, I liked that a lot," she says. "I like piecing together what's really wrong. You get all these images from other people working with you, but then you get to discover what's really at the root. I think that's really cool."

Schmitz says she wants to go into the medical field, but she's unsure of what specifically she'd like to do. She likes the idea of becoming a doctor in family medicine but also has an interest in psychology.

"They're two different things, but I feel like if you're a doctor, you're going to be using psychology," she says. "I know my own doctor always talks to me about my life, and I mentioned how I like psychology, and he said as he's grown and been a doctor for years, he realized that psychology was a big part of what he does."

For Schmitz, it was a morning well spent.

"I know the Hillsboro hospital is a really good facility, and I thought it'd be a great learning opportunity," she says. "I thought it'd be comfortable, something new that other people are experiencing with me."

Schmitz says, from what she's heard, those who work at rural hospitals like Gundersen St. Joseph's feel more at home and get to know their coworkers well. That's appealing to her, and that's what Wopat, the HR manager, hopes the other students feel, as well.

"It's all about rural healthcare. In rural settings, it's harder to find those people to stay rural," Wopat says. "If you can get the rural students to touch all of these different aspects of rural health, it's our hope they'll consider us as they decide on future careers."