MHA Students Tour Hershey Medical Center and Siemens Medical Services
Not all education takes place in the classroom. That’s something everyone knows, of course, but the MHA program took the lesson – pun intended – pretty seriously recently with a “Road Scholars” tour of PSU’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Siemens Medical Services. Nearly all of the MHA students in both first and second years were joined by 3 faculty members on March 30 for a full day of events designed to give students a “hands on” feel for the profession.
The first stop of the day was at Hershey Medical Center (HMC), where 3 presentations were built around a tour and lunch. Dr. Kristen Kjerulf led off with a presentation on the importance of clinical research to patient care. She was followed by Dr. Rich Simons, Vice Dean for Educational Affairs, who spoke on current trends in physician education. Tours of the General Clinical Research Center and the Simulation Lab followed to supplement those presentations. Donna Reck, Chief Nursing Officer then spoke on patient care and the Magnet Hospital Nursing Initiative at HMC while the group had lunch.
From there the tour went to Siemens Medical Services in Malvern, PA where students were exposed to the latest developments in medical informatics and the world’s largest healthcare data respository. Over 1,000 hospitals maintain their clinical and financial data in this facility. In addition, the group was treated to a demonstration some of the latest Siemens’ IT products, including their electronic medical record.
The final stop of the day was a “Meet the Students” reception in the Pyramid Club, high atop the Mellon Bank Building in Philadelphia. Alumni and students had the opportunity to get acquainted over refreshments and participate in a drawing for, among other things, a football autographed by Joe Paterno. The brief program included remarks by department head, Dr. Dennis Shea.
After the reception it was back on the bus for the return trip to State College, arriving about 11 PM. While the 6:45 AM start made for a long day, all agreed it was an excellent educational experience.