PENCIL Partnership in Focus: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is one of over 800 Nashville organizations partnered with Metro Nashville Public Schools through PENCIL. To highlight this partnership, we joined students from James Lawson High School in visiting the Center for Experiential Learning & Assessment (CELA) at VUMC.
The Center for Experiential Learning & Assessment builds training scenarios for both medical students, and for practicing VUMC professionals looking to sharpen their skills. Their simulation lab allows students to experience realistic situations, and receive constructive feedback in a safe environment.
As part of this experience, 24 eleventh-grade students in the Health Sciences Academy at James Lawson High School had the opportunity to participate in five different activity stations, and gain hands-on experience of life as a medical professional.
Each activity station focuses on a different skill-set – from making use of CELA’s state-of-the-art procedural simulation tools, to staged scenarios with “patients” portrayed by actors to practice communication skills. The attendees also had the opportunity to ask current medical students about their experiences pursuing a medical career.
Tony Dancel, an Operations Manager at CELA, told us that he believes partnerships with the Academies of Nashville are vital for MNPS students: “It’s not always easy to figure out the career path that is right for you; I had a lot of interests and potential pathways to consider before I found this role, that blends my pharmacological background with my engineering skillset.”
“The simulation technology we have at the center allows students to train like pilots in a flight simulator, but also help our students to practice their communication skills. Often medical professionals can be siloed in their area of expertise, and don’t have opportunities to collaborate with professionals in other fields. The center is here to provide a safe learning environment that prioritizes patient safety”.
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