The New Vision Medical Career Program provides an exciting “new vision” of blended academic, experiential learning, and career education, targeting high school seniors with an interest in medical careers.

Members of the Finger Lakes Workforce Investment Board received a presentation on the program from Finger Lakes Technical & Career Center Instructor Laura Van Niel, M.S. at March’s board meeting earlier this week. Accompanying Ms. Van Niel were three current students who spoke of their experiences in the program.
Offered cooperatively by Finger Lakes Health and the Finger Lakes Technical & Career Center (part of Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES) for component school districts, this program allows students to explore medical careers. Qualified high school students must apply in the winter of their junior year for the competitive selection process.
Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, students master Nursing Assistant competencies useful in a wide-range of careers that enable them to interact with patients and medical staff while on 24 clinical rotation sites. Rotation sites are arranged in 4, 6-week blocks of analogous units; Diagnostic, Acute Care, Unique Populations, and Surgical to enhance students’ understanding of patient/resident care, increase retention of clinical knowledge, and master system-based practices. Computer Based learning modules introduce students to specific principles and medical-surgical disorders of human organ systems they are likely to observe while on rotation. Directed Experiences outline each rotation, providing a guide for students to be proactive about their learning opportunities. The hospital based interdisciplinary classroom approach allows students to study health sciences, English, government, and economics simultaneously and apply this practice-based learning throughout the132-bed general acute care hospital.
Graduates from the program have been accepted at over 170 post-secondary institutions in 29 states; 3 Ivy League Universities, the U.S. Naval and Army Academies, and various direct entry (accelerated) professional programs.
For more information log onto: https://www.flhealth.org/patients-visitors/education/health-career-exploration/new-vision-medical-career-program
