By Amy Stewart
On June 13, 2022, a group from the Empowerment Collaborative joined Fairmont Medical Center to discover ways the hospital system’s workplace could inform our schools’ workplace environments, career exploration, and even provide potential local problems to engage students in their learning. Fairmont Medical Center hosted an engaging series of roundtable discussions with more than sixteen different professionals at the hospital with a wide array of roles ranging from supply chain logistics to swallowing and speech therapy.
Two teachers, Sallie Stewart from Calhoun Middle School and Sherry Hardy from Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School, Debora Nicholson, world language coordinator at the West Virginia Department of Education, and consultant Barry Crist joined Kathleen McNally and Amy Stewart from the Empowerment Collaborative in this inquiry-based experience.
Our team was surprised and impressed by the range of roles and jobs within the hospital system for every type of interest. Students who may be curious about the medical field may be naturally curious about a hospital’s inner-workings. However, we discovered that there are rich opportunities for those who love to tinker and fix things, those who like solving logistical problems, even those who love technology, but don’t necessarily want to engage with people. Training varies greatly for each of these roles from on-the-job training to medical degrees! Many we spoke to have changed roles and re-trained over time as their interests and needs have changed.
We heard two common refrains from these professionals that led them to their current positions:
- Some had experiences early in their life- middle school or early high school- that connected them to the medical field to shadowing and internships. This ranged from personal medical experiences to family members who work in the industry, but these people were exposed to the careers and specifically made choices to pursue this career.
- Others wished they had had experiences to put them on a clear pathway earlier in their educational experience so that their training and schooling wasn’t left to chance.
Across the board, the hospital professionals agreed that the more students can see and experience as many careers as possible, the more likely they are to make informed decisions about their training, education, and other opportunities during and after high school. Many observed that there is potential for middle school students to shadow varying roles in the hospital, especially those roles that are not directly involved with patient care.
Another discovery we made through our conversations with Fairmont Medical Center was the value in students learning workplace skills. Ever person we spoke to throughout the day re-emphasized one specific skill, which is also one of the Empowerment Collaborative’s five Empowerment Skills: COLLABORATION. The logistics and facilities team emphasized the need to work directly and constantly with the nurse managers, housekeeping, even Lowe’s to solve critical problems with supply shortages and priorities. The therapy team emphasized the need to collaborate both within their team and across all roles so that when they make a decision about a patient need, it is coordinated with the timing of the nursing team, the supplies needed, even the appropriate food the patient may need. The MRI and CT manager, Drew Rager, specifically stated, “Every chance you get to have students work in teams, they should do it. But when I was in school, there would be one kid who did all the work in a team. That doesn’t work here.” This emphasizes the need for students to learn to manage their teams, use group contracts to hold each other accountable, and have varying roles and responsibilities to within the teams so that all individuals are crucial to achieving the goal.
In addition to collaboration, the hospital staff shared many skills with us that would create a valuable employee. Some of the skills emphasized the Empowerment Skills that we as a network already value. Others provide excellent inspiration for methods, procedures, even project ideas. They expressed many communication needs including the ability to answer the question being asked; communicate difficult concepts to people who do not speak the same technical language as well as to different demographics and types of people; resolve conflicts; and build a network of collaborators and experts. The facilities team emphasized the need for students to understand automation, computers, tinkering, and a desire to know how things work. They also expressed the value of solving problems including students being responsible for logistics, systems, and supplies. The director of facilities repeatedly came back to the idea that students need marketability, citing skills such as drive, teaming, flexibility, and persistence that give an employee real value.
After our roundtable discussions, nurse manager Cari Morgan took our team on a tour of non-patient areas of the hospital so that we could explore the real workplace environments. We looked at a cancerous slide in a microscope in the lab and watched a video of a vein on an ultrasound machine. Our teachers walked away with many ideas of students who would be greatly benefitted by exposure to the many unexpected potential careers in a hospital setting.
One major takeaway from our day with Fairmont Medical Center was a statement they made toward the end of our roundtable session. Stacy from the therapy team stated it best: “We are all working toward the same goal: the patient.” When conflict, communications, and decision making may become difficult, it is paramount to remember- everyone in the system is working toward the wellness and care of the patient. This is a lesson that certainly resonates for educators.
We are all working toward the same goal: the success of all students.