Incorporation of Public Health into a service learning program for pre-health students

Exposing pre-health college students to public health through an organized elective provides the opportunity to reach students before they enter the healthcare field.  The Bellevue Hospital Emergency Department facilitates several summer programs for pre-health college students to expose participants to careers in health sciences through clinical rotations and educational lectures. The summer program Project Healthcare was established in 1981 this past summer consisted of 50 pre-health participants.  To further introduce Public Health concepts a public health elective was developed and piloted for participants. The elective included lectures, case-studies, and reflections on public health topics including core disciplines, such as biostatistics and epidemiology, environmental health science, health policy and management, population and family health and sociomedical sciences.  The goals of the elective were to provide practical knowledge of public health concepts and greater insight into public health’s role in the healthcare system.  The elective proved successful, exposing 40 participants to public health concepts and sustaining the interest of 20 participants who completed the entire curriculum, including a written reflection assignment at the course’s conclusion.  This pilot educational experience demonstrated interest and desire of pre-health’s students to increase their exposure and knowledge on public health concepts.  The elective also resulted in increased participant interest in the public health field, as several participants expressed interest in pursuing further graduate work, and potentially a future career, in public health.  This pilot project fosters the importance of integrating public health concepts into pre-medical programs to provide increased awareness and encourage participants to consider public health as a future career.