Teaching the Next Generation: Staying Ahead of the Growing Need
Looking after the overall health of our neighbors and the communities in which we serve requires us to identify problems and plan for any changes that may arise. Hiring and retaining subject matter experts and team members is of the utmost importance in supporting those needs. Across our service areas, our health care education programs have been hands-on with community needs and initiatives.
WellSpan continues to push through barriers amidst a pandemic in many areas to develop our future workforce and support patient services, such as:
- Preserving student experiences by implementing guidelines at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that safely allowed for, rather than paused, critical talent pipeline development.
- Continuing the Project Search program in York and Adams counties, providing valuable job skills internship experiences to eight students who dedicated more than 6,500 hours to supporting patient services.
- Introducing new, innovative virtual learning for students in the YCAL Respiratory Care Program and at WellSpan Summit’s Health Career Institute.
- Providing unpaid internship experiences to 860 interns totaling 97,193 hours.
- Facilitating 182 advanced practice provider student clinical rotations, with 60 of the placed students hired.
- Advancing four graduates of the Nursing Leadership Academy via promotion to higher levels of leadership.
- Placing more than 86 medical assistant externs across York, Adams, Lancaster and Lebanon counties, with more than 18 hires.
Education Initiatives
Medical & Pharmacy Residency Programs
Across eight specialty programs, 176 residents are completing their formal graduate medical education with WellSpan Health. Five pharmacy residents are in training in our pharmacy residency programs at WellSpan Waynesboro Hospital and WellSpan York Hospital.
Fellowship Programs
Across five disciplines, eight physicians are completing their specialty training in a WellSpan Fellowship program.
Undergraduate Medical Education
In their third year of medical school, over 250 students were exposed to clinical medicine for the first time in WellSpan rotations. Twenty students spend their entire third year at WellSpan York Hospital, as part of the WellSpan York Hospital Regional Medical Campus of Drexel University College of Medicine.
Unpaid Internship Experiences
In total, 97,193 hours of experiential training were logged by 860 interns.
Student Clinical Rotations
Clinical rotations for 182 advanced practice providers (APPs) were facilitated within the system.
Nursing Leadership Academy
Four academy graduates were promoted to leadership positions.
Medical Assistant Externships
More than 86 externs were placed across the region with more than 18 hires.
Project Search
Eight students completed the program in fiscal year 2022. The Project Search program has provided immerse learning experiences for 129 students with disabilities since the program’s inception in 2010, many of which have translated to full-time positions at WellSpan or in the community.
York County Alliance for Learning & School of Respiratory Care
More than 15 high school students participated in live webinars, where they were introduced to the respiratory therapy field.
Health Care Institute
In the virtual format, 26 students from Franklin County participated in this state-award-winning, intense health care career exploration program.
WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital Medical School Scholarship
Of the 29 students currently in the program, 19 have graduated from medical school and are currently completing residency training in Family Medicine, Ob/Gyn, Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, ENT/Head and Neck Surgery, Neurology and Radiology, with plans to join WellSpan Medical Group practices after graduation.
Resident & Fellow Research
WellSpan residents and fellows have completed innovative research covering a variety of key areas, including comparable results with telehealth vs. in-person primary care for acute low back pain, the impact of COVID-19 on warfarin anticoagulation dosing in hospitalized patients, increasing patient access through simple methods of enhancing patient use of the MyWellSpan portal and surveying residents nationally on their training in trauma-informed care principles.
