High schoolers visit clinic labs | The Triangle

High schoolers visit clinic labs

Students from Philadelphia’s Imhotep Institute Charter High School visited Drexel’s Clinical Simulation Center Nov. 14 to experience hands-on learning in the medical field.

Students in grades 10 through 12 were able to learn medical terminology and familiarize themselves with various pieces of equipment used in a hospital.  They also visited stations where they collected vital signs, suited up for surgery and assembled organs in an anatomical model. The center has eight skills rooms and 20 simulation rooms.

Additionally, during their visit to the Center for Interdisciplinary Clinical Simulation and Practice, the teenagers were able to experience what Drexel students go through simply by learning the importance of basic monitoring systems and how to properly take vital signs. The students took the skills and knowledge they learned in a classroom and put them in motion at the different simulating stations through various hands-on activities.

Leland Rockstraw, the assistant dean of simulation, clinical and technology academic operations, was excited about this community outreach event to help the students decide if a health profession is the proper path for them, as well as to express the importance of science and math.

“It’s one thing to say what science is about. It’s another to let them experience it and see if it’s something they enjoy,” Rockstraw said.

Imhotep provides students with a Health Academy Track to prepare them for a health career profession. The track includes classes in science and math that relate to the health program, as well as offsite learning experiences such as their visit to Drexel.

“The importance of the students participating is to get the hands-on experience of what the real world is like in a health profession,” Michelle Harrison, Imhotep’s coordinator, said.

According to Harrison, having the students utilize the simulation center has the ability to set their careers in motion early and allows them to become comfortable in a college environment.

“As an educator this offsite learning experience demonstrates the value of hands-on activities,” Harrison said.

The students also appreciated the unique field trip and learning opportunity.

“My class trip to Drexel University was a great learning experience. I loved how they explained everything and allowed us to practice with hands-on projects,” Blair Thompson, an 11th grader at Imhotep, said.

“My staff and I were very impressed with the attentiveness and professionalism they exhibited,” Rockstraw said.

Rockstraw looks forward to future visits with the students and said he wants them to be supported in their studies and offer them the experience that Drexel can provide.