MEDCAMP Encourages High School Students to Pursue Health Care Careers: AHSC Hosts Three-Day 'Mini-Medical School,' July 15-17

About 50 Arizona high school students will spend part of their summer vacation learning about health care careers in medicine, nursing and pharmacy during the 11th Annual MEDCAMP, July 15-17, at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center (AHSC).
During this free, three-day "mini-medical school," students will explore their interests in the health sciences and be completely immersed in a broad curriculum that incorporates classroom teaching, laboratory experience, hospital tours and medical ethics discussions. Tours will include operating rooms, the newborn nursery, the neonatal intensive care unit and the anesthesia simulation center. On the last day of MEDCAMP, students will shadow and observe the daily activities of health care professionals.


Nominated by their high schools from towns throughout Arizona, MEDCAMP students were selected based on essays they wrote on their career interests. This year, MEDCAMP had 120 applicants.

Some of the activities scheduled for MEDCAMP that offer the best photo or interview opportunities include (times are approximate):


Tuesday-Wednesday, July 15-16

• 9:15 to 11:15 a.m. - AHSC tours includes visit to Anesthesiology Simulation Center, G-110. Anesthesiologists demonstrate a human simulator dubbed "Stan," which is used to teach medical students. The lifelike simulator is so realistic its chest rises and falls as it "breathes," it has a pulse, and its eyes dilate and blink.

Tuesday, July 15

• 2:30 to 4:20 p.m. (two sessions) -
• UA College of Pharmacy laboratories. Students learn how to make lip balm.
• Patient Care Learning Center (PCLC) at the UA College of Nursing, Room 247. Computer-generated "simulations" at this center are designed to provide nursing students with acute care skills before they actually set foot on a hospital unit. Simulators include a full human body similar to "Stan" that can be programmed to moan and vomit, and an IV simulator that screams "ouch" when the IV is inserted incorrectly.

Wednesday, July 16

• 10:30 a.m. to noon -"DNA Extraction Exercise," College of Medicine, Rooms 3114-3116. Students isolate their own DNA using cells from their mouths in this laboratory exercise.

Thursday, July 17

• 8:45 to 10 a.m.; 10:15 to 11:30 a.m. (two sessions) -"Introduction to the Human Body," College of Medicine, Rooms 2115-2116. An introduction to anatomy that includes an opportunity to dissect pig hearts.
  

Editors Please Note: The AHSC Office of Public Affairs can help arrange photo and interview opportunities with MEDCAMP students throughout their stay in Tucson. To arrange interviews, call Vicki Gaubeca or Katie Riley at (520) 626-7301.