On Saturday, May 3, the Harkness Memorial Auditorium at the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) hosted a joyful celebration of the latest cohort of New Haven Public School students to complete the Yale Simulation Academy, an afterschool program at the Yale Center for Healthcare Simulation that teaches hands-on medical interventions and the science behind them.
The celebration brought together graduating students, their friends and families, Yale faculty, and New Haven school leaders together to honor the students’ accomplishments — a celebration that included a career fair and demonstrations of the center’s simulation equipment.
[T]raining exercises include learning how to perform endotracheal intubation, conduct ultrasounds, or deliver babies
Now in its 10th year, the free program — offered in partnership with Yale Pathways to Science and New Haven Public Schools — enrolls up to 96 9th and 10th graders from three area high schools. Twice a month, students arrive at the center for a science-related lesson — on blood circulation and the heart, for instance. Then they learn the basics of applying that knowledge, such as giving CPR using the center’s high-fidelity mannequin simulators. Finally, they learn more about related careers — like becoming an emergency medication technician — including what training is involved, what a day on the job looks like, and what salary they might earn.
Other training exercises include learning how to perform endotracheal intubation, conduct ultrasounds, or deliver babies.
“We’re not necessarily trying to get kids to go to medical school,” said Leigh Evans, the executive director of the Yale Center for Healthcare Simulation. “We’re trying to give them information, exposure to science and career possibilities, and to increase the workforce in our community.”
Students get the perspective that there are all sorts of different options — it doesn’t have to be a straightforward path.
In recent years, students have been able to use the center’s virtual reality system, using VR goggles to virtually care for patients.
Each month, one afternoon is given over to mentorship. High school students who completed the 9th and 10th grade curriculum go on to serve as mentors during their 11th and 12th grade years; mentors also include Yale College students, Yale medical students, and Yale faculty.
Leaders from the New Haven Public Schools — including superintendent Madeline Negrón and college and careers supervisor Dina Natalino — have been “incredibly helpful and incredibly supportive,” said Evans, who is also a professor of emergency medicine at YSM. (Both Negrón and Natalino were guests at this week’s graduation.)
In remarks during the graduation ceremony, Evans emphasized the wide-ranging institutional support that made the Simulation Academy possible.
“First and foremost, the Yale Simulation Academy only exists because of a commitment to the New Haven community by Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Health System,” she said, pointing out that the program’s team is made up entirely of these organizations’ employees. In particular, she noted the support of Nancy Brown, the YSM dean; John Francis, YSM’s associate dean for student affairs; Arjun Venkatesh, YSM’s chair of emergency medicine; and Thomas Balcezak, the chief clinical officer of Yale New Haven Health, who has supported both the participation of the center’s staff and the recruitment of Simulation Academy students for health care employment.
“Our mission is to motivate the children in our community to become excited about science and hopefully consider careers in the health profession,” Evans added.
The program is funded in part by a Science Education Partnership Award grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The graduation ceremony also paid special tribute to Richard Gusberg, professor emeritus of surgery at YSM, who founded the Simulation Academy in 2015. The students he taught in the that first year all returned for the occasion — a testament, said Evans, to the program’s strong mentorship and lasting connections.
The program’s ability to offer students insight into what kinds of careers are possible, and the many ways they can be achieved, is invaluable, Evans said.
“Students get the perspective that there are all sorts of different options — it doesn’t have to be a straightforward path,” she said. “There’s a lot of ways to get there.”
