SPEC 19
Exploring Healthcare Winter 2023

This is not the current course catalog

Experience in a healthcare environment is essential to exploring the health professions. Through this experiential course, students have an opportunity to clarify their understanding of the rewards and challenges of the practice of allopathic and osteopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, allied health professions, or public health. Students will participate in an intensive shadowing internship through a self-identified placement in a geographic location of their choosing. Generally, a shadowing experience focuses on provider-patient interactions within out-patient and in-patient settings. These experiences provide students with the opportunity to observe clinical interactions and to learn about the systems within which healthcare is delivered. Students will be introduced to fundamental concepts related to patient interviewing, diagnosis, and medical decision making. Students will also be introduced to core concepts of population health, providing a broad perspective on health outcomes within a geographic region, and expand their perspective on the individual clinical interactions which they observe. This course will encourage participants to reflect on their healthcare experiences with a dual focus: from the perspective of the individual provider-patient relationship and within a systems-level context. Weekly didactic sessions will focus on the challenges and experiences of healthcare professionals in the Berkshires or nationally, and these sessions will now be offered remotely so that they can be attended by both on-site and off-site students and to facilitate a broader range of speakers. By the end of the course, students will demonstrate greater understanding of the fundamentals of patient-provider interactions, clinical diagnosis, patient interviewing, and/or factors affecting the health of individuals and communities. They will write a final reflective paper on their experiences. Students are welcome to participate in self-sourced shadowing or volunteering internships in a geographic area where they have housing and transportation. Learn more about sourcing your own shadowing opportunity here. Additionally, we are currently assessing the interest level and capacity for facilitating placements through the ’68 Center. Please fill out this interest form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfI8HwsCTs5UrAW6CEqnquyE-Eraya4OkXjvifswJgcoifRHQ/viewform) by October 28, 2022 and we will get back to you during the first week of November about what opportunities will be available within SPEC 19.