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 that has a 90% graduation rate, and 25% of its students graduate with a professional certification. In addition, all students graduate with skill-based medical certifications such as CPR. The school graduated its first class in 2019.
How it works
Juniors and seniors take classes within MetroHealth hospital while freshmen and sophomores take classes a few blocks away. Each grade has a hospital focus for the year — freshmen get an introduction to medical terminology and careers while seniors participate in internship programs within the system, for example. The lower classes receive monthly education courses on healthcare while upperclassmen have the opportunity to start working in the field and earn professional certifications.
The program exposes students to a broad level of disciplines, from physicians to nurses to technicians to researchers to mental health workers to pharmacists.
"While they're still in high school, students can transition into patient care nursing assistant roles right in our hospitals," Airica Steed, EdD, RN, president and CEO of MetroHealth, told Becker's. "There's similar programs for our ambulatory setting, medical assistants. In fact, we actually just graduated our first cohort of self-trained medical assistant programs."
Currently, students can graduate from a state testing nursing assistant program that is held over the three-week spring break. Select students spend their break training and preparing for the test and receiving coaching from medical professionals. Many take the test after the course is complete.
Medical training programs are offered in a variety of forms, the most popular being over spring and Christmas break, but there are also opportunities during school hours or after school, Tiffany Short, director of external education and workforce development at MetroHealth, told Becker's.
In addition, students can join a mentorship program. MetroHealth staff volunteers are paired with students based on career interest or skill development and meet at least once a month.
"That's only the formal mentorship program," Dr. Steed said. "The formal mentoring program is geared towards inspiring that light in our students and truly giving them a lived experience. Those interactions and connections also happen in our cafeterias. There's so many gateways and avenues for students to participate in town halls, live listening rounds and more. We claim 9,000 employees, but truly our students are part of our culture and organization."
There are two full-time staff members who manage the high school program, and hundreds more who participate through formal and informal mentorship.
"I consider myself a staff member of Lincoln High," Dr. Steed said.
Where it's going
Currently, about 20 staff members at MetroHealth are Lincoln West alumni, and that number is expected to increase.
Looking ahead, MetroHealth is trying to integrate all its school outreach programs to provide more opportunities to students outside of Lincoln West. It is also in "deep talks" about adding a licensed practical nursing program to the high school so students can graduate as LPNs.
"There's endless opportunities for growth," Dr. Steed said. "We are solving a large [staff shortage] challenge if we can scale this across the nation."
Dr. Steed said there are practical models nationwide that other hospitals could follow and customize. She advised that the first step is to collaborate with key players such as the local school district and concentrate efforts to build the program in a successful way.
"Crawl, walk, run," Dr. Steed said. "We should not be the only hospital with this program. We need to plant that seed and let this thing grow and amplify."