Ariel Davydov, Rebecca Altshuler, Zoë Van De Voorde, Andreanne Sannajust, David Winter, Aimee Pugh-Bernard
{"title":"Exploring Careers in Healthcare & Onward (ECHO): a community outreach program to promote health care career interest in K-8 students.","authors":"Ariel Davydov, Rebecca Altshuler, Zoë Van De Voorde, Andreanne Sannajust, David Winter, Aimee Pugh-Bernard","doi":"10.1152/advan.00039.2026","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early career exploration can strongly influence children's career development. This study describes a pilot community outreach career fair named Exploring Careers in Healthcare & Onward (ECHO) that is designed to introduce basic physiological concepts and explore careers in medicine with elementary and middle school students through hands-on experiments and interaction with healthcare students and providers. The objective of this intervention is to increase exposure to and interest in health care careers in elementary and middle school students in low-socioeconomic status areas and examine its impact on vocational aspirations through post-pre surveys. The program offers four interactive activities centered in various medical specialties: <i>1</i>) \"Build Your Own Stethoscope\" (cardiology), <i>2</i>) \"Learn About Lungs\" (pulmonology), <i>3</i>) \"Make A Surgeon's Bracelet\" (surgery), and <i>4</i>) \"All About Reflexes\" (neurology). Survey data from 98 participating elementary and middle school students demonstrated a statistically significant increase in health care career interest following participation in the ECHO career fair. These results provide preliminary data supporting the use of early career-oriented interventions to increase health care career interest and motivate students to consider pursuing careers in health care. By offering opportunities for students to engage in health care career-oriented learning experiences, ECHO has the potential to empower youth to pursue careers in health care in their professional futures.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> Participation in early career-oriented interventions has the potential to increase health care career interest in elementary and middle school students. By engaging youth from the local community in health care hands-on, career-oriented learning experiences, such programs may be able to empower students from underresourced communities to consider the pursuit of future careers in health care.</p>","PeriodicalId":50852,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Physiology Education","volume":" ","pages":"1075-1082"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2026-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Advances in Physiology Education","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00039.2026","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/6/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Early career exploration can strongly influence children's career development. This study describes a pilot community outreach career fair named Exploring Careers in Healthcare & Onward (ECHO) that is designed to introduce basic physiological concepts and explore careers in medicine with elementary and middle school students through hands-on experiments and interaction with healthcare students and providers. The objective of this intervention is to increase exposure to and interest in health care careers in elementary and middle school students in low-socioeconomic status areas and examine its impact on vocational aspirations through post-pre surveys. The program offers four interactive activities centered in various medical specialties: 1) "Build Your Own Stethoscope" (cardiology), 2) "Learn About Lungs" (pulmonology), 3) "Make A Surgeon's Bracelet" (surgery), and 4) "All About Reflexes" (neurology). Survey data from 98 participating elementary and middle school students demonstrated a statistically significant increase in health care career interest following participation in the ECHO career fair. These results provide preliminary data supporting the use of early career-oriented interventions to increase health care career interest and motivate students to consider pursuing careers in health care. By offering opportunities for students to engage in health care career-oriented learning experiences, ECHO has the potential to empower youth to pursue careers in health care in their professional futures.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Participation in early career-oriented interventions has the potential to increase health care career interest in elementary and middle school students. By engaging youth from the local community in health care hands-on, career-oriented learning experiences, such programs may be able to empower students from underresourced communities to consider the pursuit of future careers in health care.
期刊介绍：
Advances in Physiology Education promotes and disseminates educational scholarship in order to enhance teaching and learning of physiology, neuroscience and pathophysiology. The journal publishes peer-reviewed descriptions of innovations that improve teaching in the classroom and laboratory, essays on education, and review articles based on our current understanding of physiological mechanisms. Submissions that evaluate new technologies for teaching and research, and educational pedagogy, are especially welcome. The audience for the journal includes educators at all levels: K–12, undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs.
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