Innovative program address potential future shortages of healthcare workers

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, USA, April 28, 2015 /EINPresswire.com/ -- With frequent national reports of potential shortages of healthcare workers in the future, what can be done to interest today’s youth in careers in the medical field to help avoid this forecasted shortfall?

In an innovative Utah program, more than 350 high school students from 15 different Utah schools recently had the opportunity of watching and discussing babies being born, while speaking live over closed circuit TV with the doctors involved in the deliveries. The program, concurrently hosted at eight school locations throughout Utah, was held this April.

The event was part of the Virtual Healthcare Interactive (VHi) program, which is a joint effort between Intermountain Healthcare and the Utah State Office of Education to provide real-time medical experiences to Utah students interested in health-related careers. The students watched two types of baby deliveries, taped at Intermountain’s McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, while linked via television and audio to an OB/GYN and neonatologist.

The VHi program allows students interested in medical careers to watch pre-taped surgeries or medical procedures and speak live with the physician who performed the procedure. This is the tenth time Intermountain Healthcare has partnered with the Utah State Office of Education on this project. Students who apply to participate are focused on health sciences studies and careers.

The purpose of the VHi program is to expose high school students to the range of professions, jobs and work responsibilities, along with the education and training required in the health field. Through the use of video and the live audio link, students are able to witness first-hand what their future career might be like, and ask their own questions to a physician.

Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based, not-for-profit system of 22 hospitals, 185 clinics, a Medical Group with some 1,300 employed physicians, a health plans division called SelectHealth, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare through high quality and sustainable costs. For more information about Intermountain, visit www.intermountainhealthcare.org, read our blogs at www.intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs, connect with us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/intermountain and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/intermountain.

Daron Cowley
Intermountain Healthcare
801-442-2834
email us here

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