In June 2017, NSU’s Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine (NSU-KPCOM) observed the second year of Achieve in Medicine (AIM-High)—a weeklong program established to enhance enthusiasm for careers in the health professions and to instill a passion for medicine in exceptional high school students.
More than 150 calls and 115 completed applications from 18 states demonstrated the robust interest in the residential medical immersion camp. Building on the success of the first year, 93 students from 8 states and 3 students from Puerto Rico joined NSU-KPCOM faculty members and medical students, to experience college life on the NSU Fort Lauderdale/Campus.
The AIM-High program is a proven way to tap and nurture interest at the high school level, and it “replicates on a smaller level what our medical students handle on a daily basis,” said Elaine M. Wallace, D.O., M.S., M.S., M.S., dean of the college.The innovative program created an open environment for interaction and acquisition of valuable skills that highlight various health professions. AIM-High provides high school students with hands-on exposure to medicine, including
• suturing and dissection
• disaster medicine drills with first responders
• simulation lab rotations
• interactions with standardized patients
• wound care with maggots
• 3-D printing
• emerging technologies in medicine
The camp also emphasized a variety of social and cultural activities that focused on the diversity and comradeship found at Nova Southeastern University NSU. The collaborative setting of AIM-High blended 44 faculty members from 4 NSU colleges. KPCOM students served as mentors and counselors, working for 1,723 hours.
Students evaluated the experience favorably, with 80 percent strongly agreeing that, “AIM-High was a good medical immersion experience,” and while 74 percent said they “felt the counselors cared about my learning.” That belief is underlined by Mavi Eyuboglu, a student from Aragon High School in San Francisco, California. “I was expecting a lot of exposure, but I wasn’t expecting such in-depth exposure,” she said. “Everyone here is just so committed to helping you learn.”
The summer of 2016 AIM-High camp achieved strong success and support, resulting in the creation of AIM-Higher 2017—an augmented program designed to give a more in-depth and personal experience for students who participated in the inaugural program in 2016.
The theme of AIM-Higher focused on ways in which the health care experience can impact patients. An arts-based session, wherein students painted each other and discussed their feelings, highlighted the topics of empathy and compassion. In a second activity, faculty members from NSU’s College of Psychology offered a program that included role playing and exchanges that fostered greater understanding of the doctor-patient relationship.
A highlight of the week for AIM-Higher students included a visit to Covenant Village of Florida—a senior living community. In 2017, NSU-KPCOM opened an outpatient medical center in the development, and the dedicated team of health care professionals at Covenant Village welcomed the students and offered them the opportunity to observe and interact with the community’s active senior population.
In the simulation lab, students moved from feelings to actions, drawing blood and performing ultrasounds. Simulated labor, delivery, and postnatal care were included in an additional simulation lab where students delivered the baby and conducted follow-up care.
An osteopathic manipulative medicine lab gave students the opportunity to learn and practice various basic techniques on each other. Students shadowed physicians in the medical clinic and interviewed simulated patients in the lab. The sessions were recorded and then reviewed by first-year NSU-KPCOM students who volunteered to critique the AIM-Higher students.
Positive feedback and advice enhanced the experience. Collaboration between the AIM-Higher and NSU-KPCOM students was an invaluable part of the program. An afternoon activity included dissecting a fetal pig, led by Wallace, and research from work performed early in the week led to posters that were displayed at the celebratory dinner on the last night of the camp.
