Minority studentsʼ career choices and education five years after they completed a summer enrichment program

Abstract

The purpose of this follow-up study was to ascertain the career selections and college majors of 101 students from minority groups who had attended a summer enrichment program at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) in Augusta from 1979 to 1983, to determine whether the program had been successful influencing the students to choose a health-related career. All the students had completed high school within the previous five years; they were contacted by mailed questionnaires or telephone. The study was completed by contacting the colleges where the students had enrolled and through the use of the Student and Applicant Information System of the Association of American Medical Colleges. The findings showed that the students had enrolled in and graduated from college and that a significant number of the students had chosen medicine or another health-related career. The study suggests the importance of early academic intervention for students from minority groups to choose a medical career.

An Educational Program for Underserved Middle School Students to Encourage Pursuit of Pharmacy and Other Health Science Careers

“…6,17,24,38,39,[41][42][43]46,48,49 Second, students are more likely to pursue careers in health and science if they are exposed to positive educational experiences at a young age. 6,19,45,50 Third, among the factors that influence pharmacy students to pursue pharmacy careers is encouragement by pharmacists and pharmacy students to do so. 51 By providing the middle school-aged students with handson experiences in the pharmacy and PA laboratories and personal conversations with pharmacy and PA students and faculty members, we attempted to address what we perceived to be important factors or shortcomings of previously reported programs.…”

“…3,5,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Moreover, achieving diversity in the workforce is not only fair, it is pragmatic, and will improve minority populations' access to, and receipt of, health care. 8,10,11,15,[17][18][19][20] Further, it has been proposed that improved diversity and cultural competency in the health professions workforce will improve medical research and management of the health care system. 2,10,15,20 Ambitious goals for increasing diversity in medicine have been set in the past, such as Project 3000 by 2000, a campaign launched by the Association of American Medical Colleges in 1991 to matriculate at least 3000 underrepresented minority students annually in medical schools by the year 2000.…”

“…5,10,11,22,23 The call for greater diversity in the health care professions has continued, with groups such as the Sullivan Commission, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Public Health Service all reinforcing the need and the push for increased minority representation in the health care workforce. [17][18][19][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] With regard to pharmacy, the US Department of Health and Human Services noted in 2008 that there was a moderate shortfall of pharmacists in the workforce and this was particularly dire among minority pharmacists. 32 The percentages of minority pharmacy school graduates did not reflect the percentages in the US general population.…”

“…37 Studies indicate that URM students become more competitive medical school candidates if they participate in postbaccalaureate enrichment programs. 6,17,19,23,24,[38][39][40][41][42][43] Examples of these short-term and long-term efforts include cooperative programs between multiple historically Black colleges and high schools with large URM enrollment, 43 directed and concerted programs for specific medical schools, 17 postbaccalaureate premedical programs, 24 and fellows programs for URM students in large, urban public schools in partnership with state medical societies. 6 Though there are, and have been, many initiatives promoting careers in medicine to underserved minority students, little work to promote pharmacy and PA careers to this population of students has been done.…”

“…Twenty-four continued to medical or dental school and 10 students enrolled in pharmacy or nursing school. 19 With regard to pharmacy, Awé and Bauman worked with URM students from Chicago public schools over a 4-year period. The students participated in a 6-week program that included 3 weeks of prepharmacy curriculum and 3 weeks working as a pharmacy technician in a chain pharmacy.…”