MCG Health System

Mary Green, right, a junior at Evans High School in Augusta, shadows physical therapist Jeff Dowling as he helps patient Sherri Johnson with her leg exercises at MCG Sports Medicine Center.

With a host of medical shows on television and news coverage about the shortage of health care workers, plenty of teens may believe that they want to be nurses or doctors.

Because believing is not the same thing as knowing, hospitals are finding ways to give teens an inside look at the field through job-shadowing and volunteer programs.

For four years, MCG Health System in Augusta has partnered with Junior Achievement to participate in the National Groundhog Job Shadow Day. This year it hosted 16 students with an interest in health care careers. The students were paired with mentors in respiratory therapy, emergency room care, sports medicine, physical therapy and nursing units.

"It's a wonderful opportunity, both for students to learn and for us to teach," said Doug Fine, director of organizational development and professional learning at MCG Health Inc. "It gives them a taste of working in a hospital environment and seeing all the different kinds of occupations involved. A hospital is like working in a little city."

Jeff Dowling, a physical therapist in the MCG Sports Medicine Center, told Mary Green, his job shadow for the day, "You may be thinking you want to go into a certain career, but when you see it and see what people do, it can help confirm that that's the track you want to follow."

Because physical therapy programs are difficult to get into, applicants need to be sure they want to pursue the field before they apply. Dowling was glad to show Green the ropes and help her make a more informed decision.

Green, a junior from Evans High School in Augusta, has played all kinds of sports and is familiar with the injuries that come with playing.

"I've always wanted to go into the medical field since I was little. In sports medicine, I could do both - I could be involved
in different sports, use that knowledge and be in medicine," she said.

Kristen Dunbar, 17, a junior from Evans High School, is more confident about her decision to work in cardiac care after visiting the adult catheterization lab with staff nurse Pam Pritchard, RN, and Mike Cunico, RN, charge nurse in the unit.

"When Kristen came, we each discussed who we were, our job description and how we got here; basically gave our testimony, " Pritchard said.

Cunico made sure that Dunbar got real hands-on, eyes-on experience, which is not the same as reading about a procedure
in a book.

"This is what I want to do," Dunbar said. "I've always wanted to go into the medical field. On my dad's side of the family, there's a lot of heart disease, and I saw this as a way of walking out from that. Only 15 juniors could participate in this program, and I really wanted to do it, so I signed up the next day."

Job shadowing gives teens a taste of working in a hospital environment and provides employees with an opportunity to talk
about their work.

"It's a positive experience for everyone," Fine said. "I toldthem in the beginning that health care is a career you can bring your heart to, because making people well is an extremely personal job, and then they got to see it in action."

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta does more than show teens what goes on at its two hospitals; it puts them to work through its VolunTeen summer program. High school students (ages 15 to 17) can apply for the eightweek program, in which they work two three-hour shifts a week to learn about health care and earn community service hours.

"Teens think they want to be nurses or doctors, but then they see all the other people working here. It opens their eyes to other jobs, like our certified child life specialists who work with young patients," said Michael Landis, volunteer coordinator at Children's.

About 150 teens work each summer in a variety of jobs. Some work in clinical areas, the gift shop or the school room for patients. Others push the game cart or do administrative tasks. "The teen volunteers are a real help because many of our regular volunteers go on vacation in the summer," Landis said.

To broaden the teens' experience, the hospital sponsors a weekly Lunch and Learn program, in which ER doctors, nurse educators, physical therapists and others talk about their specialties.

Jonathan Sadie, a junior at Blessed Trinity High School in Atlanta, applied for the program and then had a serious accident that required surgery near his interview time.

"Michael Landis actually came to interview me in the hospital and accepted me into the program," Sadie said.

Sadie played games with the kids, helped out in the rehab clinic and walked babies to sleep in the nursery.

"I have grown so much - mentally, emotionally and spiritually - through my experience here," he said.

Christine Ramsey, a senior at Wesleyan School in Norcross, plans to major in music education in college and wants to be a choral teacher. But she has volunteered at Children's for the last three summers because of the young patients.

"I love working with kids, and it feels great to make them smile," she said. "I thought hospitals were kind of scary places, but everyone here is so happy. It's a great atmosphere."

Kristina Korizon, a senior at Kell High School in Marietta, was taking an anatomy class at school and loved it. She was interested in nursing but wanted to verify her choice with some up-close experience, so Judy Murray, nursing support coordinator at Piedmont Hospital, arranged a day of job shadowing.

"I worked with nurses giving out medications, saw a Caesarian birth and coronary bypass surgery," she said. Korizon also watched nurses monitor patients after surgery in ICU and helped in NICU.

"All the nurses were friendly and answered so many questions," Korizon said. "I really liked labor and delivery, but I enjoyed seeing all the different roles. It gave me a real taste of nursing and how they help people."