Middle and high schoolers explore medical careers at Doc for a Day

Over 30 regional middle and high school students gathered at the D.A. Huckabay Medical Education Building, in Moscow, on Dec. 2, to attend Doc for a Day, some traveling from as far away as Cottonwood and Rathdrum.

Doc for a Day is designed to give students a hands-on introduction to medical school and the many different facets of medicine, with a special focus on reaching students from rural communities and/or underrepresented backgrounds. 

Idaho, despite consistently being one of the fastest growing states in the United States, is 50th out of 50 in physicians per person as of 2021. Doc for a Day hopes to inspire more students to become physicians and practice medicine in the state of Idaho.

The workshop was organized by Idaho WWAMI medical students in collaboration with the North Idaho Area Health Education Center (NI-AHEC). Medical students with varied areas of interests, including emergency medicine, anesthesiology, family medicine, ultrasound and surgical medicine worked together to coordinate interactive stations for the attendees. 

Those who attended learned about the pathway to becoming a physician while practicing skills such as the basics of administering CPR, taking vitals and performing ultrasounds, among other things.  

“Without having an experience like this, you really wouldn’t know about the variety that exists within medical specialties unless you had already gone to medical school and had done your clinical rotations,” said Kaden Lee, an Idaho WWAMI first-year medical student. “Otherwise, you just wouldn’t get a lot of exposure. I also think it’s important for people, especially those like we’re seeing today who come from rural or medically underserved backgrounds, that really would not have ever gone to see someone like a cardiologist or maybe even had an ultrasound, to realize that those are possibilities within medicine.”

Doc for a Day provides as much hands-on experience as possible for attendees, even allowing participants to practice suturing.  

Allie McCurry, a second-year medical student at Idaho WWAMI who taught attendees about family medicine and neurological exams, agreed with many of the participants that the suturing workshop was a highlight.

“Even us as medical students struggle with finding opportunities to practice suturing,” she said. “The fact that they’re getting this now is awesome!”

Doc for a Day is an opportunity for young students to learn as much as they can about the medical industry and get a small glimpse of what a career as a physician looks like. They’re encouraged to pick the brains of the Idaho WWAMI students, asking any and every question that comes to mind, whether it’s about how they got to medical school, or what an acronym means.  

The day ended with an Idaho WWAMI student panel, where Doc for a Day attendees had the chance to do just that. Participants asked them all about their journey to medical school, prep classes they could take and any advice they had for students considering medical school.    

“Growing up, I really struggled finding opportunities to learn more about medicine and how to get involved,” McCurry said. “So, I think that this is great for younger students who are thinking about college and going, “Okay, I want to go into the medical field, how do I do that?” It gives them the resources as well as the opportunity to see if it is the right fit for them.”

In the spring, Idaho WWAMI students will work with NI-AHEC again to host Hands-On Health Care, a workshop spotlighting different healthcare professions and the opportunities that each of them provides.

Hands-On Healthcare will give middle and high school students yet another opportunity to explore the different avenues of the healthcare industry, hopefully inspiring some of them to pursue a career in a healthcare profession.