From High School to Health Care: Lab and Data Science Pathways for Success

University Of Tennessee Health Sci Ctr, Memphis TN

Investigators

Abstract

Critical shortages of allied health professionals exist in the clinical laboratory sciences (CLS) and public health information technology (PHIT) professions. K-12 students are less likely to be exposed to these non-patient facing careers than they are to several other health professions, including nursing, medicine, and dentistry. A lack of exposure to lab and data science careers is reflected in recruitment challenges experienced by lab and data science programs and in ongoing shortages of professional personnel. There is a critical need for novel educational programs and training methods that promote and increase interest about CLS and PHIT fields amongst high school students before they enter college. The High School 2 Health Care (HS2HC) program is comprised of a summer professional development workshop for teachers and a summer camp and dual enrollment course for high school students that educates stakeholders about careers and educational pathways for CLS and PHIT. The program provides both NGSS-aligned curricular materials that can be integrated into the high school curriculum and hands-on experience that allows participants to experience key tasks that are performed by professionals in these careers. The program also contributes to a pipeline for students to pursue a career in these professions. HS2HC aligns with the NIH Research Education Program goal of increasing the number of qualified, trained health professionals to meet the nation’s needs. Our program targets communities in West Tennessee with health care shortages in lab and data science professions and seeks to enhance student interest and opportunities in these fields. We will use novel outcomes-based educational approaches that apply project-based learning strategies to real-world health scenarios and experiences that simulate work with real clinical data and samples. Our teacher professional development program will focus on integration of NGS standards, hands-on experiences, and career exploration pertaining to lab and data science. A quasi-experimental mixed methods design will be used to assess awareness, knowledge, and skills development in CLS and PHIT using focus groups and quantitative/qualitative content analysis. We will utilize teacher and student focus group interviews to assess the effectiveness of the outcomes-based curricular design approach we use to teach interdisciplinary PHIT and CLS content. These focus groups will allow us to develop a better understanding of how high school students acquire knowledge regarding PHIT and CLS professions using our learning approach. They will also allow us to determine whether our approaches spark student interest in Career and Technical Education (CTE) and increases the number of students choosing to pursue undergraduate pathways in these careers. We will disseminate educational curricula, materials, and research outcomes via high school and community partnerships and using online, and mobile resources. We will encourage the addition of our program into the NGSS and CTE standards for Tennessee by communication with educators and policy makers.