Engaging Health Professions Students

SWI-AHEC’s programs for college students are geared toward enhancing the healthcare education experience:

Connecting Health Professional Trainees with the Community
A USI graduate describes her experience with SWI-AHEC while finishing up a degree in Food and Nutrition.

Indiana Black Barbershop Health Initiative
Forty students from the University of Southern Indiana were trained to conduct health screenings during the 2015 Indiana Black Barbershop Health Initiative on April 11, 2015.

Clinical Experiences
SWI-AHEC can assist health professions and medical students find clinical experiences in rural and underserved areas. Our committed medical partners at hospitals and other community health environments share their knowledge and experiences with the students.

Interested in learning about clerkships in medical school?

SWI-AHEC coordinates family medicine clerkships for third year medical students.  These clerkships help IU School of Medicine students experience family practice/family medicine in our more rural counties.  The students get to learn from physicians practicing in these areas, as well as learn more about the communities themselves.  

Alexander Clayton completed a family medicine clerkship in Vincennes, Indiana this summer. 

Thinking about medical school?  Wondering about how to prepare while in high school?

Mariah Wilson is a senior at USI planning to graduate in May 2015 with a degree in biology/pre-med.  Mariah answered questions from students in Central High School's Medical Professions Academy about college life and preparing to take the MCAT. 

National Health Service Corps
The National Health Service Corps (NHSC), founded in 1972, is a group of skilled health professionals dedicated to making access to healthcare a reality for everyone in America. If you are interested in serving in a medically-underserved area, the NHSC may be of interest to you. NHSC sites are located in federally designated health professional shortage areas (HPSAs). You will practice where you are needed the most - in frontier, rural or urban areas across the United States.

You may apply for scholarship or loan repayment programs for your service to the medically-underserved. For information, call Jane Friona, National Health Service Corps Ambassador, at 812-461-5446 or email jefriona@usi.edu. You may also call the NHSC's toll free number: 1-800-221-9393.

Job Shadowing and Mentoring Opportunities
SWI-AHEC has access to many health professionals throughout the region who may be willing to participate in job shadowing or serve as mentors to college students interested in specific health careers. These opportunities will be arranged on a case by case basis, depending upon the area of interest and the health professionals’ availability.

Job shadowing is a career exploration activity that offers an opportunity to spend time with a professional currently working in a person’s career field of interest. Job shadowing offers a chance to see what it’s actually like working in a specific healthcare career. Not only do job shadowers get to observe the day-to-day activities of someone in the healthcare workforce, they also get a chance to have their questions answered.

Mentoring is the matching of an experienced health professional with one who has less or no experience. This may be for the purpose of career exploration or development and is similar to job shadowing in some ways except that, typically, it is more in-depth, continues for longer, and involves more interaction between the two people involved.

To receive further information about any of these programs, contact Jane Friona at 812-461-5446 or email swi.ahec@usi.edu