Role of a Preceptor

Would you consider involvement on a limited basis with undergraduate students interested in the health profession? If so, please keep reading!

The Health Careers Mentorship Program, established as a pilot project in the spring of 1997, offers opportunities to undergraduates interested in the health care field through their participation in a program modeled after Duke University's Health Careers Internship Program.  The major goals of the program focus on service and developing interpersonal/communication skills that will prepare these students to be a candidate for medical school, other service professions, and as a future physician or healthcare provider of the 21st Century!  This program's philosophy centers on the "humanization of medicine" rather than promoting pre-professionalism.

The Health Careers Mentorship Program will better prepare the student for a career in medicine and go beyond the tertiary care picture.  Each student has spent at least 80 hours of volunteer service at a Seton Healthcare Network facility or in some hospital/clinical setting.  He or she is actively pursuing, or perhaps exploring medicine as their career goal.  Once accepted, the intern will be required to sign a "confidentiality" statement and will make a commitment schedule with his/her mentor.  We desperately need you as a mentor!  We ask for a very small time commitment to be integrated into your busy schedule- at your convenience.

This program offers the opportunity for a student to experience the phases of the professional's routine, therefore, gaining insight into a career in medicine. The Mentor/Intern expectation guidelines include the following: 1) observing care and compassion; 2) observing private/clinic practice; 3) interacting with you, the health care professional, on a one-on-one basis in the hospital; 4) accompanying you on rounds, and if applicable, accompanying you into surgery.  The student intern is expected to devote 8 hours each week for approximately 12 weeks, keep a journal, attend group interaction sessions (which are role-playing scenarios), and make a final presentation summarizing their experience.

If you are willing to help the next generation of health care professionals through such an internship, you will play an integral role in their educational preparation and their future career planning.  If you have any questions, please contact the, Dr Bryan Holland, Medical Director, Austin Medical Education Programs.