Healthcare education in high schools exploded in 2024.
Becker's reported on around 19 systems that expanded, launched or improved their educational partnerships in 2024. Some systems rely on weeklong courses or internships, while others are delving into the creation of healthcare tracks that are taken alongside the normal high school curriculum.
Getting high school students interested in healthcare has been top of mind for many leaders as the nation faces workforce deficits. And some strategies for recruiting students are already paying off.
Here are four trends in how systems are bringing more students into healthcare careers.
Introductory courses
Many systems are drawing high school students to healthcare through introductory programs and projects. Here are six examples Becker's covered in 2024:
1. OhioHealth Marion General Hospital relaunched its Grow Your Own Medical Staff Program, which allows high school seniors to shadow physicians at the hospital. The program helps students gain hands-on experience and has already added five providers to the hospital.
2. New York City-based NYU Langone Health partnered with the city's education department to create a program in which students from Brooklyn South high schools visit the hospital once a month for six hours. Students are educated on healthcare career pathways and earn course credit for participating. They can join the clinical research program, in which students design research projects their junior year and carry them out under faculty mentorship in their senior year.
3. Cleveland Clinic received $13 million to fund its Howley ASPIRE Pathways program, a 12-week enrichment program for students to learn about careers in respiratory therapy, sterile processing and surgical technology. While in the program, some students can work as part-time caregivers at the system.
4. In June, Cleveland-based University Hospitals expanded its Future Nurse Academy to 75 students. The program involves 10 days of hands-on training in various skills, including practice taking blood pressure and drawing blood on simulated arms. It includes field trips to the hospital, where students are introduced to different specialties. So far, one-third of last year's participants have enrolled in college nursing programs.
5. Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health is using a "hackathon"-style event to get students excited about cancer-related issues. HackBio is a summer program that has students collaborate to tackle issues related to cancer and the environment. Students are mentored by undergraduate students at Duke and have four days to complete their solution before presenting it to a panel of judges. Duke also created a program that runs during the school year and includes professional development sessions, experimental education, mentorship from undergraduate students, field trips to relevant sites in the local community, and a hackathon.
6. Birmingham, Ala.-based UAB Health System is considering using a summer program to provide hands-on training or using virtual reality to introduce students to a day in the life of a pharmacy technician or certified nursing assistant.
Certificates
Some systems are taking high school medical training a step further by helping students gain certifications and work as interns while in school.
1. Orlando, Fla.-based AdventHealth University launched a program that allows students to receive certifications through online, self-paced coursework. Coursework can be completed in six to 25 weeks and ends with a national certification exam. Students can be certified as a medical billing specialist, medical front-office administrative specialist, electronic health records specialist, medical scribe professional, health unit coordinator, pharmacy technician professional, or in project management.
2. Columbus-based OhioHealth's Work-Based Learning program allows high school seniors to spend half their time at school and the other half working in paid intern positions that count toward graduation requirements. Most students work as a patient support assistant role, a pre-nursing role. So far, the system has hired 22 students who work at three hospitals: Dublin (Ohio) Methodist, Doctors Hospital in Columbus and Grove City (Ohio) Methodist. Upon graduation, students can stay with the system while they are in college and can qualify for up to $5,250 a year in tuition benefits.
Healthcare courses in high schools
A few systems are even bringing medical training to the classroom with programs that allow students to train while they earn their diploma.
1. Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System launched its healthcare high school with an inaugural class of 142 students and 37 staff mentors in August. The Health Education and Learning High School holds classes on the campus of Houston-based Nimitz High School and is funded with $31 million from a Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative. Students are recruited to the program in eighth grade through a four-week summer program in which they get an overview of hospital work. Once the school year begins, they choose courses from one of five pathways: nursing, pharmacy, physical and occupational therapy, medical imaging and nonclinical administration. As part of the program, students earn 15 to 24 dual college credits and work toward certification in their chosen pathway. Upon graduation, Memorial Hermann has committed to hiring any students who want to work for the system.
2. Cleveland-based MetroHealth system touts the first and only high school to be located inside a hospital. Lincoln West Science and Health High School, established in 2016, is a year-round school where 25% of the students graduate with a professional certification. Students in each grade take hospital focused courses, such as introduction to medical terminology and careers, and upperclassmen have the chance to work in the hospital under a mentorship program. Currently, students can graduate from a state testing nursing assistant program that is held over spring break and participate in other medical training programs over breaks and after school.
Healthcare high schools in the works
In January 2024, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a $250 million initiative to address workforce deficits in healthcare by funding health systems and public schools in 10 urban and rural communities. The systems and schools will partner to create healthcare curriculum and provide students with opportunities to earn industry certifications and credentials. The inaugural partnerships that joined the program were:
Mass General Brigham (Boston)
Education partner: Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers (Boston Public Schools)
Atrium Health (Charlotte, N.C.)
Education partner: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas)
Education partner: Uplift Education
Duke Health (Durham, N.C.)
Education partner: Durham Public Schools
Memorial Hermann Health System (Houston)
Education partner: Aldine Independent School District
HCA Healthcare TriStar, Vanderbilt Health, Ascension and National HealthCare Corp. (Nashville, Tenn.)
Education partner: Nurses Middle College
Ballad Health (Johnson City, Tenn.)
Education partner: Northeast Tennessee Public Schools (six sites)
Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.)
Education partner: New York City Public Schools
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Education partner: Mastery Schools
University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System and other state health systems and hospitals (Demopolis, Ala.)
Education partner: State of Alabama (contingent upon state funding)
Some of these partnerships are launching new schools while others are expanding existing programs:
1. Boston-based Mass General Brigham is expanding its partnership with Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers, a college preparatory and vocational high school within the Boston Public Schools system established in 1998.
2. The Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences, a tuition-free public high school, is set to open in Demopolis in fall 2026.
3. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is set to open its healthcare career-focused high school in 2025 and expects to enroll 620 students in grades 7-12.
4. New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health's new healthcare-focused high school will be established in the Woodside neighborhood of Queens. It is slated to open in fall 2025 and serve about 900 students at full capacity.