LMHS Students on the Cutting Edge of Surgery Careers

On a Saturday in late February, two Linn-Mar HS teens, learned how to wash their hands.  Not just wash, but to really scrub them!  Rachael Rupert and Kayleigh Whitford took part in the Surgical Technician job shadow day at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids through their school's partnership with the Workplace Learning Connection.  Rachael and Kayleigh along with 14 other teens from 10 area high schools, got hands-on experience in what it takes to work in the surgical department of a hospital.  The students scrubbed, washed and donned surgical gowns, discovering how difficult it is to do this simple task while keeping your hands and arms sterilized.  Then, they practiced suturing on a pig's foot, in order to get a feel for what it's like to put stitches in a human.

Pig's feet were not the only animal part the Linn-Mar High Schoolers practiced on.  They also cauterized beef liver to get a realistic feel for this surgical task.  But, it wasn't all meat products for the students.  Rupert and Whitford learned how to manipulate the arms of the DaVinci robot used in laparoscopic surgery by picking up a candy bar from a tray, in addition to practicing laparoscopic suturing on a sponge.  They also met with an anesthesiologist who showed them the medicines used to put someone asleep for surgery, and let them get the feel of how to intubate a patient with a mannequin.

Rachael and Kayleigh signed up for this job shadow because they wanted to explore a career in the medical field and are interested in a surgical specialty.  The Workplace Learning Connection partners with Linn-Mar High School and members of the business community to provide this type of career exploration experience.  To learn more about job shadows or internships in any career field, contact the high school guidance office or log on to www.workplace-learning.org.

By Nanci Young, Workplace Learning Connection