Arjun Dhawan didn’t know what area of themedical field he wanted to go into before attending the Health Science Institute at Deaconess Hospital.
Now, as the second week of the two-week program winds down, the Signature School student says he thinks cardiac and lung surgery is the path for him.
“I wanted to explore the medical field,” said Dhawan, 16. “I’ve only been in the hospital maybe twice in my entire life, so I wanted to see how it works and see what fields are in the hospital and see what I may be interested in.”
This week, he saw a cardiac catheterization that involved a cath being put in a patient’s femoral artery. It went to the heart and allowed doctors to see if there was a blockage.
Each student in the program was able to watch a surgery of some kind. They each also saw a live birth.
Participants are either juniors or seniors in Tri-State high schools. Rachel Heck, institute coordinator, said applicants go through interviews and ultimately 25-33 percent of applicants are chosen. The program is a credited class through Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp., and students who attend live on the Deaconess campus in the old nursing dorms.
“They live, breathe and exist in the hospital for two solid weeks,” Heck said.
Students are kept busy with 15-18 hour days. Heck said the goal is to put students on schedules similar to doctors and nurses, which means lots of work and little sleep.
Dhawan said, on average, he wakes up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. and goes to bed between 1 and 2 a.m. He joked it was the most difficult part of the program.
“We cram essentially over a semester worth of classroom time into two weeks,” Heck said. “Students don’t believe us when we tell them that on that first Sunday. I guarantee you ask them now and they’ll say ‘yeah, we’re cramming it in.’ ” HSI has been going on for 26 years, with Heck as the coordinator for the last three. The program does cost roughly $750, but Heck said it is a bargain, and more comprehensive than other, more expensive programs.
“There is no other program like this in the United States,” Heck said. “Any other program is going to be thousands of dollars and still won’t see what we get to see.”
Over the two weeks, students have been able to interact and meet with 132 health care professionals. They’ve sat in on 80 presentations or lectures, participated in 40 hours of clinicals and received 38 hours of hands-on activities.
Some of the hands-on activities included a heart dissection, a session learning how to cast and splint patients and, on the final Friday, a triage training.
“Our goal is to educate the next generation of health care, and to help these students determine if health care is for them,” Heck said.
Claudia Eder, 16 of North High School, says she hopes to go into sports medicine. Early Tuesday she was able to watch a below- the-knee amputation surgery — something that was a highlight for her.
“I’ve wanted to be a doctor ever since I was little. I’ve always loved medicine,” Eder said. “I’ve learned that it takes a lot of teamwork to make everything work, because you see in the hospital all the different positions and nurses all working together to help one patient.”
Students write daily journals and participate in a final ceremony and presentation on the last day of the program, where parents are invited to see what their children have learned.
“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Eder said. “I think that I’m able to work well with other people, which will be helpful in the future. And I’ve really learned to do that this week with all my friends.”