Sustaining Our Future, Career Mentoring at Pondera Medical Center

1. Sustaining Our Future, Career Mentoring at Pondera Medical Center Presented by: Mary Erickson, BSN, MSM Director of Clinical Services Pondera Medical Center, Conrad, MT

2. What is it: • A program put together in conjunction with Conrad High School Career Mentoring Class to expose students to all aspects of the healthcare industry.

3. How it started: • Just a conversation with a teacher! • School Board • Hospital Administration & Management Team

4. How it works: • Business Tract • Administration • Accounting – payroll, AR, AP • Business Office – billing • Reception • IT • Purchasing • Medical Records/Transcription • Healthcare Tract • Acute Care • Extended Care • Home Health • Radiology • Lab • Doctor office • Dietary • Housekeeping • Engineering • PT/OT • Social Work • Case Management/Discharge Planning

5. How it works: • Jr. and Sr. students come to PMC 3 times a week for their last period (2:45 – 3:30) for a whole semester • They are each assigned an area for the week • The first week is 3 days of orientation: • Confidentiality – patient and business • Safety – facility codes, etc • Name tags and security • Student interests • Resume and interview review/practice

6. How it works: • Students are graded on attendance and participation • Student evaluations are done by each area each week • Breeches in confidentiality result in automatic failure of the class • The last 2 -3 weeks are “student picks” • Complete a special project over the course of the semester

7. Program Goals: • To expose students to healthcare careers • To help our high school also expose students to business in general and the “real world” • Hopefully peak an interest and support for PMC from a younger crowd

8. The Students: • Had 7 students with interest spanning from fashion design to IT to hairdresser to nursing.

9. What do they do when they’re here: • This is the hard part! • Area objectives (handout) • Always get a department overview to include educational background and requirements to work in an area • Data entry projects, resident activities, observation, checking outdates, QA and Infection Control activities – whatever you can think of!!!!

10. Feedback from Students: • Enjoyed it overall and found it to be a good use of their time • Timeframe seemed to be just right for most areas • We needed to be more prepared for their visits • More projects for them to do • More focus on individual career options

11. Feedback from Staff • Enjoyed the interactions with the students • Enjoyed the opportunity to talk and show someone else their work • Was able to keep their work flow going • Thought time spent with them was too short • Sometimes difficult to find a project for them to do • Needed clearer expectations of what to do with them

12. What will we do different next year: • More focused with student interests • Have projects/duties lined up for them to do • Clearer objectives for both sides

13. What are you doing today to sustain the future of your organization? “As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery