While many students that opt to participate in the Creighton University Pipeline to Success Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) often have an idea of what health professional career they wish to pursue, many do not and those that do realize that they are open to learning more about other health professional careers outside of the one they desire to become in the future. For those that are still trying to figure it out, a portion of our HCOP programmatic activities involve career exploration which aims to empower students to discover, plan, and pursue their health professional goals.
As we continue to deliver programmatic activities in a virtual space, we carved out time during our most recent HCOP session on January 22, 2022 to focus primarily on what we call – A Day in the Life of a Health Professional!! From speech pathologists to health administrators to physician assistants, there are a plethora of health career options beyond the dentists and pharmacists we’re accustomed to seeing on television and/or during our yearly checkups. Therefore, the HCOP team invited the following two (2) awesome health professionals to the virtual session: Linda Al-Sharif, BSW, CSW – Social Worker from Heart Ministry Center (an HCOP Community Partner); and Jeff Stec, MS, CCC-SLP – Pediatric Program Manager from Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals. Approximately fifty (50) undergraduate and health professional 2021-2022 Online Health Careers Ambassador student participants got the opportunity to discuss the following questions and more with each health professional:
• What does a typical day at work look like?
• How do you handle “difficult” cases?
• What form of education and experience is required to pursue a career like yours?
• How has COVID-19 impacted the care and services in which you are able to provide patients?
• What the best and worst parts of your job?
• What inspires you?
• And much more!!!
Additional “props” i.e. patient videos, success stories, and charts/tables were a bonus for the students as well.
