MARCH 28, 2011

Local high school students get taste of medicine

BY MANDY ERICKSON

The five high school students had only a few minutes to come up with a better way to treat a runny nose than blowing into a tissue.

“Is there any way you can get it to go down your throat?” asked Kavya Ramakrishnan, a freshman at Palo Alto High School. “Maybe a spray would work,” suggested Margaret Shyu, a senior at Cupertino High.

“We could give it different flavors so it would taste good,” interjected Natasha Guaracha, a junior at Monte Vista Christian School in Watsonville who wants to be a reconstructive plastic surgeon.

The students were taking part in a seminar, one of 18 offered to about 145 students from six local high schools who attended Med School 101, held March 18 at the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge. Besides the challenge of developing a medical gadget that would be an alternative to Kleenex, the students learned about the brain, vaccinations, the necessity of sleep, sports medicine, performing CPR and getting into med school, among other health-care topics.

Med School 101, organized by the school’s Office of Communication & Public Affairs, is an all-day, annual event designed to expose high school students to medicine and related fields. This year’s event was sponsored by Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

Many of the students said they were considering or planning a career in medicine, and Med School 101 gave them a better idea of what they can expect. “At school, our classes — AP bio, AP chemistry — are so general,” noted Shyu. “Here it’s more focused, and you really get to specialize and see where your interests lie.”

The medical gadget seminar, led by Stanford Biodesign mentor Ken Wu, PhD, introduced the students to the medical-gadget design process: The first step in design is to find a need, Wu explained. Next is to brainstorm a solution, invent a gadget or drug, test it out on customers, and market it.

He tasked the students with addressing the need that arises from the common cold. We need something better than tissues, he said: “Find something that’s easily portable, eliminates gross nose-blowing noises, is sanitary and reduces the spread of colds.” The students then broke into five groups to come up with a solution; after brainstorming, the class reconvened, pitched their ideas and voted on the best solution.

When it came time to pitch his group’s idea, Palo Alto sophomore Carl Rodriguez launched into marketing mode: “iSpray liquefies the snot,” he said in a spot-on infomercial tone. “Just spray and you’re done!”

Alas, the iSpray, despite its ease of use and discreet design, lost out to the “sterile snuggie,” a wearable tissue with a vacuum sleeve to siphon out the snot and a soundtrack to disguise the sucking noises.

The design seminar drove home a point that was made earlier in the day by medical school Dean Philip Pizzo, MD: A career in medicine doesn’t have to involve tapping patients on the knee. In welcoming the students to the event, he encouraged them to look further: “As you’re starting to learn about med school, think about the big picture that goes beyond the obvious,” he said.

“Careers in medicine involve many different opportunities than taking care of patients. They include engineering, business, science, writing, law, government, global health.”

He added that a medical career requires years and years of education and devotion, noting, “Plan to be a marathon runner rather than a sprinter. Think big, think boldly. Persist.”

In his seminar on getting into medical school, Charles Prober, MD, senior associate dean for medical education, echoed Pizzo’s sentiments: Of the 7,000 applicants that the medical school receives annually, he told the students, only 450 receive an interview, and 86 are admitted.

It’s a competitive path, he said, adding that grades and test scores aren’t necessarily the most important factor in getting admitted. Of all the attributes that Stanford considers, he said, “Passion is maybe the most important thing of all.” While community service is critical, “it’s important only if it’s linked to passion and dedication.”

Medical schools also look for people skills, creativity, leadership and accomplishment, as well as a “growth mind-set”: “Being able to improve is a greater strength than having a talent to begin with,” Prober noted.

He also admonished the students to work or volunteer at a hospital or clinic, telling them, “It’s important to have the right experience to determine if it’s the right thing for you.”

Many students at the event did just that in the emergency medicine seminar. In the medical school’s intensive-care practice room, six students were clustered around the bedside of “Brenda,” a wig-sporting mannequin who said she had been suffering from shortness of breath and chest pain.

Brenda, who was hooked up to a monitor showing her heart rate and blood oxygen levels, answered the students’ questions about how she was feeling and let them feel her pulse and heartbeat. But then her oxygen levels started to drop, her heart stopped and Stanford medical student Nate Wong hurriedly directed the teens in giving oxygen and administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Eventually, Brenda’s oxygen levels rose and her heart restarted. Wong asked, “What do you guys think happened if she had chest pain and difficulty breathing and her heart stopped?”

“A heart attack?” they asked in unison. An excellent diagnosis, Wong confirmed. They’re on their way to diagnosing and treating patients.

---

Mandy Erickson is a freelance writer and editor in the Bay Area.

Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions - Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. For more information, please visit the Office of Communication & Public Affairs site at http://mednews.stanford.edu/.