如果你能看到，你就能做到.

想象自己是一名医生, surgeon or medical specialist can feel like a stretch — especially if you don’t have someone to guide you along the way. So MedStaircase is stepping into that role — giving traditionally underrepresented students opportunities to see themselves working in health care.

成立于2021年5月, MedStaircase is a collaborative effort between physicians, 由Kate Ropp M.D., an anesthesiologist in Portland who earned a degree in biology from Oregon State in 2003. The nonprofit connects medical professionals with students interested in medicine, providing support and access to help them pursue their career goals.

医生，学生

找到那些学生，看看他们能帮上什么忙, Ropp and her colleagues reached out through programs like the Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students at Oregon State and the University of Oregon. They discovered many students didn’t have family members or friends to job shadow at clinics or hospitals. Ropp recognizes this lack of real-world exposure creates a barrier.

“当我还是个孩子的时候, 我知道有宇航员, 但这感觉太遥不可及了,罗普说. “对很多第一代学生来说, there isn’t someone in their life who can guide them and show them the steps to joining the medical field.”

So Ropp and her colleagues decided to create those opportunities, virtually.

Any interested student could join a 变焦 panel, featuring physicians from different specialties. MedStaircase到目前为止已经进行了八次小组讨论, featuring speakers like emergency room and 内科医学 doctors, pediatricians and surgeons — each giving a real-life glimpse and perspective of what a career in these areas looks like. 除了, students could speak one-on-one with doctors in breakout rooms following each panel.

随着COVID-19疫苗的广泛使用, MedStaircase expanded programming to include weeklong in-person job shadow opportunities at several clinical sites in Portland. 在手术室里, 学生们观察了剖宫产等手术, 开胸手术, 面部重建, 烧伤病人手术等. Students also spent time at outpatient clinic settings learning pediatrics, 内科医学, 皮肤病学等.

Ropp says one of the top goals of the program was to remove any barriers that prevent students from accessing these opportunities. 为此目的, MedStaircase提供了大约1美元的奖学金,000 to 17 students to offset expenses like travel and lodging.

改变人生的影响

For students and recent graduates who participated in MedStaircase, 这段经历揭示了新的职业道路.

Ariah Tesema, 理学院的大三学生, says MedStaircase opened her eyes to medical professions she didn’t previously know about.

“I was able to learn that I don’t need to become a surgeon in order to make a difference in the [operating room,她说.

Tesema adds that this realization made her understand how valuable the team surrounding a surgeon is, 扩大她的潜在职业清单.

她毕业后, Tesema plans to continue exploring her many interests — including becoming a travel surgeon through a program like Doctors Without Borders.

里卡多·门多萨·埃斯科韦多, 2021年毕业于澳门威尼斯人娱乐场, discovered that even a simple procedure can drastically improve a patient’s quality of life. He says viewing several different medical procedures showed him the true variety that exists in a medical career. MedStaircase has made available resources he wouldn’t have otherwise known about, 还有他有问题可以求助的导师.

Mendoza is currently working as a clinical research assistant at Oregon Health & 波特兰科学大学. He hopes to eventually help fulfill the medical needs of the rural Eastern Oregon community where he grew up.

2021年澳门威尼斯人娱乐场毕业生珍妮·林克, one of the most valuable aspects of the MedStaircase program was the well-rounded picture it painted of a future in health care. 她说听听医学院的利弊, as well as physicians’ perspectives on different medical specialties, taught her a lot about the options that fit her interests.

“Finding roles that I feel I would be well-suited for was a great boost to my confidence and helped keep me going toward my dreams of pursuing a health care career,她说。.

Link is currently working as an operating room assistant at Providence Portland Medical Center, 她继续探索潜在的职业选择.

不断扩大的机会

Because MedStaircase received such great feedback during its first year, Ropp says she hopes to increase the number of participants to 50 by the summer of 2022. 除了, she plans to expand the program beyond Oregon to Washington, reaching out to students at other universities and community colleges. She says MedStaircase will eventually include mentoring and job shadowing opportunities in other health-related fields, 包括物理治疗, 职业治疗与药学.

最重要的是, Ropp says she wants MedStaircase to help bring more diversity to all facets of medicine, 什么对医生和病人都有利.

“医疗保健需要你，”她说. “Patients from groups that have been historically marginalized are justifiably wary of the house of medicine. But when patients share an identity with their physician that is culturally concordant, 他们的健康状况更好. You can directly shape the health of your community by pursuing a career in health care.”

现在，这一追求有了更清晰的途径.

For more information on participating in MedStaircase or becoming a mentor, visit medstaircase.org.