Health Professions Week 2019

We are less than a month away from Health Professions Week, an event organized by ExploreHealthCareers.org which is aimed at helping pre-health students discover the various careers in healthcare. This year's list of digital events hosted by EHC includes Health Talks, a virtual treasure hunt, a self-care panel discussion, resources for financial literacy, live chats about mentoring and shadowing, and, as always, a virtual career fair featuring a wide range of representatives from professional programs. (Learn more and register for these free events by going here: https://explorehealthcareers.org/hpw/)

Here at SD Mines, we are gearing up to host several of our own exciting events during that week! Some of these events require a pre-registration, while other events are open for you to drop-in the day-of and check out at your convenience. All events are free and open to SD Mines students. Here's our schedule of events:

Monday, November 18th 

9:00AM-3:00PM (McKeel Conference Room) - We will be streaming some of the Health Talks and the Self-Care Panel from the EHC website. A detailed schedule for these will be updated soon.

Tuesday, November 19th

8:00AM-12:00PM (Surbeck Ballroom) - Pre-Health Expo
This event will feature information and representatives from professional programs, test preparation companies, volunteer organizations, and local shadowing/employment opportunities.

10:00AM-3:00PM (Outside of Surbeck) - Regional Health Mobile Simulation Lab
Regional Health is bringing their mock emergency room to show students what life is like in the ER. 

1:00PM-4:00PM (Hisega) - Card-Making with Helpline Center
Helpline Center will be hosting activities for students to make cards to give to members of the Rapid City community.

1:00PM-2:00PM (Hardrocker) - Occupational Therapy Demonstrations
Ranelle Nissen with USD's Occupational Therapy Department will be doing drop-in demonstrations of techniques used in occupational therapy.

1:00PM-1:30PM (Bump) - Unique Careers in Pharmacy
Amber Hawk with the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Pharmacy Program will be talking to students about the various career options within pharmacy.

1:00PM-1:30PM (Dorr) - Cardiac Clinical Specialist Careers
Representatives from PrepMD will be discussions career options as a certified cardiac clinical specialist.

1:30PM-2:00PM (Bump) - Preparing for the MCAT
Representatives from AptarePrep will be talking to students about how to get ready for the MCAT.

1:30PM-2:00PM (Dorr) - Pre-Health Student Opportunities with Black Hills Surgical Hospital
Jon Michaels with Black Hills Surgical Hospital will be talking to students about shadowing and career opportunities with BHSH.

2:00PM-3:00PM (Bump) - The Need for Diversity in the Health Professions
Vikki Driving Hawk (A.T. Still University), Dawn Warren (USD Nursing), and Jesse Herrera (Center for Inclusion at SD Mines) will be discussing the importance of diversity in healthcare and the need for bringing people from a wide range of backgrounds with an array of experiences into healthcare settings to better serve patients.

3:00PM-4:00PM (Dorr) - The Guide to PT & OT Admissions
Samuel Wheeler with the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences will be talking to students about the admissions process for physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) programs and how to prepare for careers in those professions.

3:00PM-4:00PM (Bump) - Applying to Dental, Medical, & Pharmacy Programs
Amber Hawk (UNMC Pharmacy), Nikki Hinrich (USD Sanford School of Medicine), and Ed Vigna (UNMC Dentistry) will be discussing preparation for and the process of applying to professional programs.


7:00PM-8:00PM - FHSP Professionals Dinner
The Future Health Science Professionals will be hosting a dinner with local healthcare professionals. This dinner will feature good food and great conversations with local nurses, physicians, and dentists. The event is free for anyone who has paid their yearly dues as members of the FHSP. Students are required to pre-register for this event by sending an RSVP to fhsp@mines.sdsmt.edu

Wednesday, November 20th

7:00AM-8:30AM - Pre-Shadowing Tour at Rapid City Medical Center
Students will be touring one of the Rapid City Medical Center facilities, turning in shadowing paperwork, and getting connected to shadowing opportunities during this event. Students are required to pre-register for this event. Spaces are limited, so if you are interested, please e-mail Dr. J at Johnica.Morrow@sdsmt.edu ASAP!

10:00AM-11:00AM - Pre-Shadowing Tour at Black Hills Surgical Hospital & Imaging Center
Students will be touring two of the Black Hills Surgical Hospital facilities, turning in shadowing paperwork, and getting connected to shadowing opportunities during this event. Students are required to pre-register for this event. Spaces are limited, so if you are interested, please e-mail Dr. J at Johnica.Morrow@sdsmt.edu ASAP!

Thursday, November 21st

9:30AM-11:00AM (Student Success Center) - Meet-&-Greet with Medical Students
SD Mines alumni Levi Franz & Peter Franz will be hanging out on the big, orange couch to chat with students about preparing for and thriving in medical school. Free hot beverages (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and caramel apple cider) and sweet treats will be available. Come with questions and stay for as much or as little time as you have to get to know these stellar med-students!

Friday, November 22nd

7:30AM-8:30AM - Grand Rounds at Regional Health Rapid City Hospital
Join us in the West Auditorium of RHRCH for an early morning presentation about pain management sponsored by Regional Health. Breakfast is provided and transportation can be arranged. If you want to ride with a group, we meet at the fireplace in the front lobby of Surbeck and leave around 7:00AM. Please let Dr. J know if you plan to ride with the group so that we can make sure we have enough seats for everyone! (Johnica.Morrow@sdsmt.edu)

We hope to see you at one or more of these events during
Health Professions Week 2019!

Stories from Displaced South Dakotans: The Adventures of CAPT Bruno Himmler

Sometimes South Dakotans find themselves living and working outside of the state as they progress in their health careers. In this series, we will share stores from some of these displaced South Dakotans and hear the advice that they have for others pursing careers in the healthcare industry.

Bruno participating in rescue swim
in Mobile, AL as part of USCG
Flight Surgeon training.  

CAPT Bruno Himmler graduated with his B.S. in Biology from Augustana University in 1989 before going into medical school at the University of South Dakota's Sanford School of Medicine. He is currently in Ketchikan, Alaska, serving as the primary provider for 220 active duty personnel. He also attended the Coast Guard flight surgeon program. He participates in call coverage for medical evacuation cases and search and rescue missions the Coast Guard carries out in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. We caught CAPT Himmler to ask him about his pre-med experiences, career path, and advice that he has for students looking into careers in medicine.

Where did you go after leaving South Dakota? How did you land where you are now (geographically speaking)?  After graduating from medical school, I did a transitional internship in Sioux Falls before heading to serve with the US Navy as a General Medical Officer for 3 years, 2 of which were on a LPD class ship as the sole physician for 413 crew members and 1 year doing sick call at a Naval Air Station Clinic in Norfolk, VA area.  The Uniform Services (Air Force, Army, Navy, United States Public Health Service) all offer up scholarships for students attending medical school to pay for tuition room, board and misc. expenses.  In return, graduates receive a commission into the respective service and serve on active duty as pack back.  It also affords the individual opportunities to see the United States and world and practice health care with the pressures of private, fee for service health care.  I attended the Wausau Family Practice Residency Program for 2 years after my active duty time and then went to work at a Community Health Center in NW Iowa serving populations who experience barriers to health care, either financial, cultural, language or personal life choices.  In 2005, I had the opportunity to join the USPHS and serve full-time again on active duty with Indian Health Services in Ft Hall, Idaho.  I have served since then with several Federal Agencies to include Dept. of State, US army War College, Health and Human Services HQ, Defense Health Agency, and currently since 9/11/2017, United States Coast Guard in Ketchikan, Alaska.

What kinds of shadowing did you do to get a better feel for medicine before applying to medical school? What did you learn from those experiences? 
During much time as an undergraduate, I did volunteer with a social worker at the VA Hospital in Sioux Falls. This gave me my first real exposure to health care and the hospital setting.  I learned that the health care system was made up of more than doctors and nurses and there were several other health professionals that made positive impacts on people’s lives.  

Do you have a “defining moment” or other strong memory from an experience that made you realize that medicine was the right career path for you?
There wasn't a clear defining moment that I can recollect.  My strengths in school involved math and the sciences and I enjoyed classes in chemistry, math and physics. I also am a people pleaser and wanted to help people.  Medicine provided a venue to help others and to utilize science skills.  It also provides an universal language that allows people from other cultures and languages to come together to improve the health of a people.

What kinds of volunteering do you do?
I have volunteered at various medical clinics during my career to ensure I maintained by clinical abilities. After doing primary care for 6 years, I decided to pursue an opportunity to become involved in health care diplomacy and spent several years as a SME for Health and Humanitarian Assistance, with a focus on international development.  I obtained a Master’s of Public Health from Des Moines University in 2013 which also helped broaden my knowledge relating to public health.

Bruno and his wife, Mary (one of our
SD Mines alumni!), taken this summer.

Did you do any research as an undergraduate?
I did research work in the biology department while I was an undergraduate.  One project I participated in dealt with trace element analysis of human remains to determine their eating patterns and diet composition.  This entailed a 4 week trip down to Arica, Chile, where I joined a team from the University of Rhode Island to gather plant samples, marine life samples and human remains samples.  The analysis was able to demonstrate that the indigenous people in that region of Chile from 4000 BC were both hunters, gatherers and ate red meat, sea food and plant food.

How did you prepare for the MCAT?
My main preparation involved reviewing study guide books.  Good course to complete before taking the MCAT include, basic biology, chemistry, biochemistry, trigonometry, physics and human anatomy.  In our medical school class, we had people with various degrees to include History, English, Sciences, and Engineering.

What techniques do you use to manage your time and stress levels? 
After I believe the key is to engage in physical activity that you enjoy to help relieve stress.  Also, relaxation methods such as Yoga or meditation are also helpful.  In today’s society, youth are learning the skills on how to multi-task utilizing modern technology.  This skill can be translated into the health care field as many times, I have needed to multitask and deal with several issues simultaneously.

What advice do you have for pre-health students who are struggling?  
Struggles are actually healthy.  I would worry about someone who never had to face adversity or struggle at some point in their education or career path.  It is through struggles that we are able to grow and become more confident in our abilities.  The other key is to reach out for help and not to struggle alone.  

Advice from an Alumnus: Meet Allyson Stromer!

SD Mines has a reputation for excellence that reverberates through our students long after they leave campus with their degrees in hand. Today, we are featuring on of our alumni, Allyson Stromer, who earned her degree in Interdisciplinary Science in 2005, then she went on to earn her B.S. in nursing and later her M.S. in nursing education from SDSU. She is currently working for SDSU's College of Nursing as a nursing instructor right here in Rapid City! We caught up with Allyson to ask her about her time at SD Mines and how it helped to prepare her for a career in healthcare.

Hey, Allyson! How did your time at SD Mines prepare you for a career in nursing education?
My time at SDSM&T was filled with everything I needed to be ready for nursing school, including several biology and chemistry courses with associated labs, anatomy and physiology courses, and psychology courses. In addition to writing and humanities courses, the Mines laid the groundwork for a well-rounded education that helped me be successful in nursing school and as a nurse.

What kinds of healthcare experiences did you do to get a better feel for careers in healthcare while you were a student? 
I worked as a certified nurse's assistant (CNA) after my graduation from the Mines so I could decide if healthcare was something I was passionate about. I realized the development of the nurse-patient relationship was a strength I had early on and wanted to explore it further. 

Did you do any research as an undergraduate at SD Mines? 
I wrote a research paper as a requirement for graduation from SDSM&T but as I learn more about the research process, I know it wasn't a great paper! I haven't participated in any research outside of school requirements since then, but even those experiences have been valuable. The biggest take-away has been the development of information literacy, the concept of knowing I need more information and the ability to find a reliable, valid sources to support an evidence-based practice.

What kinds of volunteering did you do during your undergraduate?
I volunteered for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters school program.

In what other ways did you prepare for a career in healthcare?
In addition to my work as a CNA, I have several amazing nurses in my family who answered my questions and offered support in preparation for my schooling and my career. My mom, who has been a nurse for over 40 years, still answers any questions I have about nursing!

How did you balance studying, attending classes, and other student commitments with your personal life while at SD Mines?
The eternal struggle! There was always more studying to do, there was always another work shift available, there was always another get together with my friends. For me, balancing all that meant keeping my end goal in mind and only saying yes to things I really wanted to do. If that meant making time for me to sit and read and be alone, that's what I did. Also, surrounding myself with like-minded individuals helped during my time at the Mines. We had fun when it was time to have fun and we studied (a lot!) when it was time to study. 

What techniques do you use to manage your time and stress levels now as a professional?
As an instructor, I make full use of my planner and my Outlook calendar to keep me on track. Even class prep gets a time slot to ensure I am ready for each class. I am slowly (slowly!) going as paperless as I can so I don't waste precious time or resources printing PowerPoint slides that I will then re-work for next time. I also work to finish one task as completely as possible so I can easily move on to the next item.

When I feel stressed, I try to remember that it’s a normal part of life and I can control my response to it, no matter the circumstances. I prioritize tasks and remember to make time for my family and myself to avoid burnout. I also enjoy going back to hands-on nursing when I have the opportunity. It reminds me of the reasons I love being a nurse.

What advice do you have for pre-health students who are struggling?
In classes, make connections with the work. Figure out how things tie together and "make sense". Once you have a better grasp on the bigger picture, the smaller ideas begin to fit into place. Self-awareness is important too. For example, if you aren’t being as successful in your courses as you would like, take a minute to look at your study habits. Are you studying in a group in which you find yourself unable to get anything done? Perhaps it’s time to reevaluate those habits and try a new approach.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed and have moments of "I can't do this". Find someone who will lend you an ear, a shoulder, any kind of support to help you through this time.  Take advantage of campus resources as well, there are many forms of help available for when you are struggling.

All About HOSA: Future Health Professionals

This post was written by guest contributor, Gabrielle Smith, a current SD Mines student that is part of the team of students working to start a HOSA chapter here at SD Mines.

HOSA participants learn about
medical imaging during
the annual conference.

Whether you are interested in public health, working as a clinician, laboratory science, or biomedical engineering, HOSA may be for you.  HOSA: Future Health Professionals is an international organization for middle school, high school, post-secondary, and college students interested in healthcare fields.  HOSA provides students with opportunities for competition, scholarships, and volunteering.  It is also currently the largest organization in the world for students planning on going into healthcare and healthcare-related fields.  With over 60 competitive events and multiple recognition events, there are a wide variety of options to choose from.

Students compete and attend symposia at annual conferences at the state and international level.  These conferences also provide valuable opportunities to network.  At the state conference, I’ve been able to go to sessions on pediatrics, being an obstetrician/gynecologist, suturing, family medicine, and emergency medical services.

Internationals take place every year in late June.  Over 11,500 attendees from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China at the most recent conference in Orlando, Florida.

View from the recent HOSA conference in Orlando, FL.

For the past four years, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to attend the International Leadership Conference.  At the most recent international conference, I was able to attend a presentation on the role of augmented intelligence in healthcare, a lecture on medicine in space, and a round table about the future of healthcare.  There were also sessions on palliative care, emergency preparedness, pediatrics, suturing, and designing prosthetics, among others.  Some of the speakers and representatives included people from Microsoft (including several mechanical engineers and a bioengineering researcher), IBM Watson Health, the US Surgeon General, a former senior medical advisor at NASA, HHS and the White House, and a branch chief from the US Department of Health and Human Services.  At other conferences, I’ve been able to get certified in mass bleeding control and attend sessions on emergency medicine, human trafficking, and post-traumatic stress disorder in emergency medical services.

Opening slide from a presentation given
during the International Leadership Conference.

During my time in HOSA, I’ve been able to compete in epidemiology, behavioral health, pathophysiology, and healthcare issues.  While all of those were based on written exams, there are plenty of other types of events.  In my previous chapter at my high school, students have competed at the international competition in events such as CPR/First Aid, EMT, Health Career Photography, and Forensic Science.  Some competitive events involve demonstrating clinical skills, while others involve demonstrating various labs.  Still others involve poster presentations in areas like biomedical engineering.

HOSA has been extremely valuable to me.  When I joined, I wasn’t entirely sure about what I was getting myself into, but I’m incredibly grateful that I did.  HOSA has provided me with opportunities to meet other students from around the world and given me the chance to further my knowledge in a variety of areas in healthcare.

If you’d like to learn more, or get involved with HOSA, please email me at Gabrielle.Smith@mines.sdsmt.edu or Hope Dosch at Hope.Dosch@mines.sdsmt.edu

You can read more about HOSA here in South Dakota
by checking out their website: https://sdhosa.org/  

Students Attend the 2nd Annual Heartland Pre-Med Conference

This time last week, a group of students returned to classes after a weekend spent traveling to Kirksville, Missouri, to attend the 2nd Annual Heartland PreMed Conference at A.T. Still University's School of Osteopathic Medicine. This school is the first osteopathic medical school in the country and was established in 1892 by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of osteopathy and osteopathic medicine. The legacy of A.T. Still is described in the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine, which is located on the Kirksville campus. Our students were able to tour the museum during their time at the conference. The museum featured lots of interesting artifacts from A.T. Still's life and a collection of medical antiques that show the progression of osteopathic medicine through time.

One of the displays at the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine.

VP for Academic Affairs at ATSU, Lori Haxton,
delivers the welcome message at the conference.

Three of our fantastic pre-health students embarked on their journey to Kirksville on a Friday morning. We spent 11 hours riding in a school vehicle talking about life, the universe, and everything before finding our way to our hotel and settling in before the next day's conference. The next morning began with a good breakfast and arriving early for registration check-in. Everyone was given a bag with information about the conference and we were able to pick up fun conference t-shirts before the welcome message that began at 9am.

After welcoming students and their advisors to A.T. Still University, attendees were able to select from two presentations during the first session. One of the presentations was Professionalism and Ethics in Healthcare, which I attended and thoroughly enjoyed. The other session was Navigating Interview Formats, which all of our students attended and reported was helpful information regarding the different types of interviews that one can go on when applying to medical schools. This was especially useful for the two students who had signed up for doing a mock interview later in the day.

AdaptPrep MCAT Project Manager, Elizabeth Heeg,
talks to attendees about preparing for the MCAT.

The second session featured a presentation about ATSU's Biomedical Sciences Program titled An Opportunity to Improve Your Medical School Application and a presentation titled Strategies for MCAT Prep, which all of us from SD Mines attended. This session was sponsored by AdaptPrep and gave students a list of Do's & Don't's for MCAT preparation. AdaptPrep also donated free subscriptions to some of their test-prep products for all conference attendees.

The third session was hosted by ATSU's admissions department and focused on preparing applications for AACOMAS, the centralized application service used for applying to osteopathic medical programs. While specific to AACOMAS, much of the information shared was applicable to other centralized application services for professional programs in healthcare.

After this session, lunch was sponsored by the US Army, US Navy, and US Air Force. During lunch, there was a panel discussion with two ATSU students, one in the osteopathic medical program and one in the biomedical sciences program. These students provided insider information on preparation for and success in professional programs.

ATSU students demonstrate OMM.

There were two additional sessions after lunch. The first session allowed student attendees to choose between Strategies for MCAT Prep or Single GME & Residency Selection Process Explained. Because our students had already attended the MCAT prep presentation earlier, they all attended the other session to learn about the residency process. The second session allowed students to choose between Osteopathic Principles and Practice or Caring for Your Mental Health in Medical School. Because two of our students were still learning about osteopathic medicine and the third is planning to go into osteopathic medicine, the group decided to attend the first presentation, where they gained a clearer understanding of the profession and learned more about the holistic approach that DOs take when caring for their patients. Meanwhile, there were concurrent sessions for pre-health advisors that included panel discussions with representatives from various medical programs (both DO and MD schools) followed by a group discussion about letters of recommendation.

The afternoon was comprised of lab demonstrations of ultrasound, osteopathic manipulative medicine, patient simulations, and immersion room experiences. These were exciting experiences for our students, who saw live demonstrations, solved a simulated patient case using a robotic patient, and learned how to triage during an emergency scenario in the immersion room. Two of our students also participated in mock interviews, where they received feedback to use in future interview preparations.

SD Mines students, Lauren Wipf and Isabel McClachlan, work with Bill, a simulated patient, to diagnose his pneumonia.

Students learned how to triage and then entered an immersion room where they put their skills to use in a live scenario.

Students speak with a VCOM representative
during the medical school meet and greet.

Additionally, we all walked through the medical school meet and greet. This meet and greet featured booths with representatives from a variety of programs sharing information and lots of fun, branded freebies for us to take back with us to Rapid City. (You know what that means...free stuff available in Dr. J's office!)

After the conference was over, our group said goodbye to ATSU and made our way back to Rapid City. In reflecting on our experiences, the students agreed that the conference was a fun, worthwhile trip, despite the long drive. While the meet and greet and informational sessions were useful, everyone agreed that the hands-on activities were the most interesting and reaffirmed their choices for pursing a career in medicine. One student remarked, "It is a very insightful way of learning the basics of medical school." Another stated, "It helped me confirm my desire to go into medicine and helped me to understand what I needed to do to prepare." All three students would like to attend the event again next year and would recommend it for other students interested in a pre-medicine pathway.

Students attended the 2nd Annual Heartland PreMed Conference at ATSU.
Left to Right: Lauren Wipf, Isabel McClachlan, and Alex Reader

Learning from Locals: Meet Dr. Christina Plemmons!

Rapid City is home to many healthcare professionals devoted to improving the lives of people both in town and in the greater Black Hills region through administering quality care and training the next generation of heathcare workers. Today, we are featuring the newly-appointed Assistant Dean for the Rapid City site of South Dakota State University's College of Nursing, Dr. Christina Plemmons! Assistant Dean Plemmons earned her B.A. in Business Administration (with an international minor in German) from Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, before pursing her B.S. in Nursing and later her M.S. in Nursing Education from SDSU. She then went on to earn her Ph.D. in Nursing Education from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. We caught up with Dr. Plemmons to ask her more about her new position at SDSU and her experiences in healthcare.

What motivated you to go into nursing? 
I was looking for a career that would challenge me and allow me to “make a difference” in the lives of people every day. As a nurse scientist, educator, and leader, I continue to feel challenged and I still make a difference in people’s lives. I have the education I need to make a difference in new ways and that brings great joy to my life.

Tell us a little bit about what you do as an Assistant Dean for SDSU’s College of Nursing.

As the Assistant Dean for the Rapid City site, I serve the College of Nursing, Rapid City faculty and staff, and Rapid City Undergraduate and Graduate students. An average week includes problem solving with instructors; responding to student requests/concerns; meeting with scholarship donors; monitoring the budget; hiring faculty or staff; representing the College of Nursing at public, clinical agency, or student events; supporting professional development of faculty and staff; and tracking progress of strategic plan goals. Every day I work to support the College of Nursing mission, vision, and strategic plan. SDSU College of Nursing strives for excellence in undergraduate and graduate education, research, scholarship, and health services to diverse individuals, communities and populations across the life span. The college improves human health and quality of life for people in the state of South Dakota, the region, the nation and the world.

Wow! You have a lot going on! How do you effectively manage your time?

I like to use technology for efficient communication and organization. I use reminder alerts, notes, and calendars to manage my time. I have two to-do lists – one for long term projects, and one for short term or daily tasks.

What do you see as being one of the most important issues in health care today? 

Access to primary and preventive care is an important issue in U.S. health care today. 

How can our pre-health students stay informed about important health care issues?
One way to stay informed is to join a national student organization. Another way is to join the professional organization of your future profession. Many professional organizations have reduced rates for students, along with access to free online or print resources. I also recommend changing the preferences in your news apps. Add healthcare news to your preferences!

Dr. Plemmons and other SDSU Assistant Deans
pose for a photo while in Washington, DC,
to meet with Congressional Representative staffers.

Which techniques do you use to manage your  stress levels?

One way I minimize stress with technology is to set reminders for the future tasks and then forget them until it’s time to do them. Another way I minimize stress without technology is to not own a cell phone. I use mantram repetition to focus and settle my thoughts when my mind spirals around a problem that and I am not ready to solve. I walk to and from work, which allows my brain to focus on the squirrels, birds, or flowers (or falling leaves, rain puddles, or snow). I also own a dog – a big responsibility, but also the best stress reliever ever!

What advice do you have for students interested in health careers?

First, take some time to explore your options. Healthcare careers are never portrayed correctly, or completely, in the media. Second, consider what you want a typical day to look like. Do you want to spend time with different people every day? Do you want to work alone, without interruptions? Do you want to provide health care for an entire community? Do you want to be an expert in treating a single disease process? Do you want to change healthcare systems? Third, get connected. Interview healthcare professionals, job shadow, join a health career student organization, attend national student conventions/conferences. Fourth, learn everything you can in your foundational courses. They’re called foundational for a reason 😊. Finally, contact me if you’re interested in a career in nursing, advanced practice nursing, or nursing science. Good luck!

Pre-Health Prep Series: Secondary Applications

It's almost August and some of you have already submitted your applications to professional programs. Great job! Now the wait for secondary applications begins!

In the meantime, you can be preparing for secondaries by developing set answers for the most common types of questions that are asked during secondaries (or perhaps later during interviews). Even if you don't take the time to write out your responses to things you haven't been asked yet, it can be good to reflect on your experiences and can save you a lot of time if you know what to expect.

Here are a few common types of secondary application essay prompts that you might see:

1. What makes you distinct/unique compared to other applicants?
2. How will you bring diversity to our program?
3. Why do you want to attend our school?
4. Describe a personal challenge that you faced and how you overcame that challenge.
5. What do you consider the role of a health professional to be in a community?
6. Which personal accomplishment are you most proud of and why?
7. What has been your most humbling experience and how will that experience affect your interactions with your peers and patients?
8. Where do you see your future health career (academic, research, public health, primary care, business/law, etc.) and why?

As secondary applications come in, you will want to strike a balance between a timely response and a high-quality response. You never want to rush your responses and make silly mistakes like having the name of the wrong school in an essay or sending something with grammatical errors. Those kinds of things can really hurt your chances of getting an interview. You need to put in the time to make sure that things are professional and of sound quality. However, you don't want to take too much time because that can also be perceived as unprofessional and demonstrate a lack of interest. In general, 3-4 days is about how much time you should spend preparing and submitting each of your secondaries. Remember that the Pre-Health Pathways office is willing to help you review your responses and offer feedback if needed!

There are several different approaches to dealing with secondaries as you start to receive them. The Princeton Review recommends using one of the four strategies that follow:

1. Focus your energy on the schools that you are most interested in attending first.
2. Hold off on sending secondaries to the more competitive schools until you've sent out a few to the less competitive ones. (For some students, their last secondaries will be stronger than the first few that they send back.)
3. Reply first to schools whose secondaries ask questions to which you can easily give solid answers. (This allows you to work your way up to more difficult secondaries.)
4. Practice writing secondary responses/essays before you receive your first secondaries. This allows you to send out well-written and personalized responses to your top choices first.

Whichever approach you choose, there are a few things for you to keep in mind as you move forward:

• Do your research! Look up the mission/vision statements for the programs that send you secondaries. Maybe even call the school or connect with some of their current students to learn more about the program. You want to know more about your audience as you formulate your responses/essays and you want to showcase your fit for each program. Knowing about the school's values can help you answer the "why us?" questions and can help you demonstrate to the admissions committees how you are compatible with what they are looking for in applicants for their program. You can also tailor your responses to questions like "what makes you unique" or "how would you bring diversity to us" by having a better understanding of the program.
• Put your responses in a separate document. Copy + paste your secondary questions/prompts into a word processor and work on your responses/essays there. This allows you to make edits without worrying about losing material in the application portal or accidentally submitting before you were finished with your work. When you are ready to copy/paste back into the application portal, be sure that you don't have any weird formatting or special characters that don't properly carry over before you submit.
• Give the admissions committees new information/context. Remember that with these kinds of essays, you don't want to rehash your personal statement. The admissions committee already read that and thought it was compelling enough (alongside other parts of your application) to request a secondary from you. Even if you feel like you addressed whatever they are asking you for in your personal essay, resist the urge to copy + paste anything from your primary! You want to provide them with new information or with a new way of looking at some other experience that you've already talked a little bit about in other parts of your primary application.
  
• Answer the questions you were asked and stay on-topic. Always make sure that you are following the prompt for essays and/or appropriately answering the questions that were asked as part of your secondaries. Secondary applications are much more specific than primaries and admissions committees want to understand your goals, experiences, and personal views in greater depth. They are also looking to see if you are a good fit for their program (and whether their program is a good fit for what you want out of your career). Additionally, they are looking to see how well your secondaries compliment things that you talked about in your primary application. Finally, committees want to know that you can stay on-topic and follow directions, so be sure to double-check all of your materials before sending in your secondaries!
• Double/triple check everything.While you don't want to take too long with returning your secondaries, you do want to be intentional about your use of language and word choice. You are only given a limited amount of character space for your responses/essays, so every word counts! Make sure that you are staying within the character limit and not trying to squeeze in extras that have less impact, like flowery language or cliches. You also don't want to have any typos, grammatical errors, or big whoopsies, like addressing the wrong program. If you have the time, it is good to put a secondary that you feel is complete away for 24 hours, then reviewing it with fresh eyes to look for any mistakes before you submit. It is also good to have others look over your responses to try to spot any of these kinds of errors prior to submission.

Here are a few additional resources for getting through the secondary application process. (I may have drawn from them while writing this post!):

• Secondary Application Practical Advice
• Medical School Secondary Essays: The Complete Guide (Examples Included)
• 5 Tips for Medical School Secondary Applications

Advice from an Alumnus: Meet Janelle Strampe Fried!

SD Mines has a reputation for excellence that reverberates through our students long after they leave campus with their degrees in hand. Today, we are featuring on of our alumni, Janelle Strampe Fried, who earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2014, then stayed to finish her M.S. in Biomedical Engineering and graduated in 2015. She is currently in medical school at the University of Washington School of Medicine and is taking some time off between her 4th and 5th years of the program and is here in Rapid City. We caught up with Janelle to ask her about her time at SD Mines and how it helped to prepare her for a career in medicine.

Hey, Janelle! Wow, two degrees in engineering! How are you using those skills these days?
[At the moment,] I’m using my mathematical skills to help renovate my in-laws kitchen. I joke that an engineering degree is very good for medical school but very good for life in general, especially during DIY projects. 

What made you decide to take a year off?
I am taking a year off because I decided to start my family and was encouraged by my school’s dean of students to take time off with my daughter before residency started. Also, it’s very difficult to fly all over the country and interview during your third trimester, so logistically it was easier to take a longer maternity leave. 

What kinds of shadowing did you do to get a better feel for medicine before applying to medical school? What did you learn from those experiences? 
I mostly worked with Dr. Clark Duchene at Black Hills Orthopedic & Spine Center. It was wonderful to shadow him in the outpatient clinic and many times in the operating room. [It was] also [great] being exposed to anesthesiology. This was one of my first experiences in the clinical world and I learned how the healthcare team works together to care for the patient. I also learned about several different opportunities in the medical field and was exposed to other healthcare professions like PA, nursing, physical therapy, etc. While every person was important to the team, I was able to determine that becoming a physician was the right path for me and my future goals for my career. 

Did you do any research as an undergraduate? If so, what kind and what did you learn from those experiences? Did you do any research afterward?
I worked with Dr. Sinden through the biomedical engineering department during my undergraduate degree which led to my graduate work in the same lab working on triplet repeat expansion diseases. My thesis work was focused around Friedreich’s Ataxia, specifically. While this experience was very valuable, I decided that clinical work was more of my personality rather than conducting bench research.

What kinds of volunteering did you do during your undergraduate?
During my time in Rapid City, I was involved with several different opportunities, but my favorites were weekly tutoring sessions at the YMCA North Teen Center and being a volleyball coach for Black Hills Juniors Volleyball Club. Also, during my undergraduate, I really enjoyed volunteering with Junior Achievement in Houston one summer when I was doing a summer internship for LyondellBasell.

How did you prepare for the MCAT or other entrance exam?
I worked through an MCAT prep book that I received from an upperclassman who had been accepted to medical school the year prior. I would recommend taking a class to really prepare for the MCAT. Additionally, I would focus on techniques to become the best standardized test taker you can be because once you get into medical school you will take several board exams and if you can learn better study techniques from the beginning, it will be one way to start medical school off right. 

What do you do when you aren’t studying?
Spending time with my husband, Lucas, and daughter, Adeline. I enjoy hiking, fishing, and all activities outdoors. Additionally, I enjoy DIY projects and define myself as an amateur woodworker. 

What techniques do you use to manage your time and stress levels?
As I played volleyball and basketball at School of Mines, exercising and staying active really helped with stress levels and I try to continue this when I can. I took a mindfulness class my second year of medical school, which taught several techniques to help with stress management, including yoga and deep breathing. For time management, I love lists and make lists daily, weekly, and monthly making sure I finish what I need to, when I need to. 

What advice do you have for pre-health students who are struggling?
Always remember what you are passionate about and put all your heart and mind towards it. Don’t assume anything and nothing replaces hard work. Enjoy the journey. As I look back on my collegiate career, an early influence on my success was my thermodynamics professor at School of Mines who told me “Believe that you have what it takes to be great.” To me, this is something that is crucial to be successful in any area of your life and has stuck with me for several years…this idea of simply believing you have what it takes. Believing in yourself. I know you’ve all heard this over and over, but to me it is just that simple. Continue. Lastly, learn to love what you do and then do what you truly love.

Pre-Health Prep Series: Writing Personal Essays

It's the time of year when students are sending in their personal essays for professional programs. They've been writing and revising and revising and writing some more. At the Pre-Health Pathways office, we have lots of great resources to help students begin and move through the process of preparing a personal statement for their applications. During the regular semesters, we host a Personal Essays Workshop to help students get started with reflecting on their experiences and drafting their first essays. There are lots of great tips, resources, and collections of advice for helping students in this area, but today we are going to talk about the four major areas that every good personal essay should address.

The first area is MOTIVATION. This is a major component of the essay as it answers the big "why?" question for admissions committees. You want the committee to understand, specifically, why you want a career in health care. And don't you dare leave it at "I want to help people". There are lots of jobs where you can "help people", so don't be generic! Give some context about what got you interested in health care. Did a person inspire you? Was there an event in your life that made you want to be a doctor/PT/dentist/etc.? Tell the committee about what drives you to continue pursing that career when things get hard. You can showcase your resilience, reliability, dependability, and service orientation by discussing your motivation. While you can talk about motivation throughout your essay, it is a great place to start and a nice thing to use for "closing the loop" on your narrative, so we recommend writing about motivation in your first paragraph and then bringing it back up in the final paragraph of your essay.

The second area to address is FIT. When we talk about fit, we are talking about how your experiences relate to the profession (i.e. how the program is a good fit for you) and about how you are going to contribute uniquely to a student cohort and eventually as a professional (i.e. how you are a good fit for the program). You want to talk about why you would make a good professional and how you would enrich a program as a student with a unique perspective due to your background, pre-health training, culture, or other life experiences. This is a good place to showcase your diversity as a member of an underrepresented group, as a person with a non-traditional education pathway, as someone who has experienced a long struggle with a health condition, as a person from a small town, as someone who has traveled to be part of humanitarian efforts, etc. Diversity can be defined in a lot of different ways, so think about how you will bring a unique perspective to class discussions and talk about it. The idea here is to persuade the committee that you would be a great person to interview for their program because the profession is a good fit for your goals and you are a good fit for any program. You can also talk about fit to address how you've changed for the better over time. How you've grown. The professional distance that you've traveled to bring you to this moment. By talking about fit, you can demonstrate things like your service orientation, your cultural competence, your social and teamwork skills, your ethical responsibility, your resilience and adaptability, and/or your capacity for improvement. Talking about fit works well as a second paragraph as transitioning from motivation to fit often flows nicely. It is also something that you can reiterate in a conclusive paragraph with just a couple of summary sentences.


You should also address CAPACITY. Capacity refers to how well your training, skills, attributes, and other competencies align with the expectations of the profession. A good place to start thinking about your capacity is to review the kinds of competencies that your profession expects of pre-health applicants and then to self-assess how capable you are in each of those areas. You want to talk about the qualifications that you have right now and how those have prepared you to thrive in a professional program. Talk about the skills that you have developed from your time as a student and from your health care experiences so far. Talk about how you have developed things that will help you to succeed in a program, such as better study habits, ways of balancing school, work, and personal obligations, or good bedside manner. Discuss your professional distance traveled, like you did with fit, but this time focus on the skills that helped you to grow and how you are continuing to grow. This section can help you to show the committee that you are reliable, that you are responsible, that you have the ability to adapt and improve, and that you have a good foundation from which to build your career in the profession. Moving from a discussion of fit to a discussion of capacity can be done naturally in writing, so we suggest talking about capacity in a third or fourth paragraph in your essay. That being said, sometimes you can talk about both fit and capacity simultaneously within your narrative, so if that works for you, feel free to intermingle the two within the body of your essay. Do remember to refer back to capacity in the conclusive paragraph with a sentence or two summarizing what makes you qualified to be applying.

Finally, the last thing you should talk about is your VISION. Think about what impact you want to have on your profession. Where do you see yourself when you finish your program and are out in the workforce? How do you envision working with your patients, colleagues, or maybe even students someday? What kinds of things do you wan tot achieve in your career? You don't want to spend a ton of character-space addressing things you haven't done yet, but you do want to talk a little bit about these things to show the committee that you've thought about it. This can also reinforce your motivation and fit as you've previously described them. While you could make this a full paragraph, you could also just sprinkle some of this into the body or just use it in the conclusive paragraph to help you with wrapping up your narrative.

If you are having trouble getting started with writing your personal essay, you could try reflecting on these four areas and writing down a few things under each. You want to address those four areas within a narrative that is interesting to read, so you can also think about structuring your essay by first providing context (talking about motivation works well here), then presenting an action, change, or insight (here's where you can talk about fit and capacity), and then discussing the outcome and how it relates to the context from the beginning (close the loop with vision and motivation). You can use this suggested order to help you lay out the structure of your narrative, but don't feel like you are tied to that format. You want your writing to feel authentic just as much as you want it to feel professional.

After you've written a draft of your essay, you'll want to do some serious editing. Put it away for 24 hours, then come back to it with fresh eyes and see what mistakes you made, what doesn't make sense, and what you could do to make it more precise. Sometimes, reading the essay out loud to yourself can help you identify what you actually wrote as compared to what you intended to say. (Our brains are notorious for autocorrecting when we read things silently, so this is a great way to catch silly little mistakes!) Then revise and send your essay out to others to help you check for grammatical errors, flow, and content. Then revise some more...and then even more revising. Make sure that your essay is going to make the best first impression possible with those on the admissions committees who will be reading it.

Remember that the Pre-Health Pathways office is open all summer and we are happy to help you get started on your essay and work on edits before you submit. Your personal essay, combined with your interview, can account for as much as 60% of your applicant score for some programs, so be sure that you are submitting your very best work! For those of you planning to apply next year, it's never too early to start working on your essay. ;) 

Summer Reading Suggestions from Dr. J

Greetings, All!

Summer is *finally* here! Time for pre-health students to catch a little break, gain some health care experiences, maybe take a summer class or even a vacation. It is also a great time to start looking into things that are happening in the world of health care. During the regular semester, it is hard to get away from all of your obligations like coursework, serving student organizations, class projects, and family life, but keeping up with health care news is important for staying current in the field where you want to build your career. There are lots of great news outlets that can help you catch up and stay current in the rapidly changing field of health care. Below are some suggestions, both from me, your neighborhood friendly Pre-Health Pathways Advisor, and from other pre-health advisors across the country who post on a top-secret pre-health advisors forum that I frequent.

Below are the top summer reading suggestions for students interested in health professions:

• Shots: Health News from NPR -- https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots

• Goats & Soda: Stories of Life in a Changing World (a global health and development blog) -- https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/

• The Salt: What’s on Your Plate? (a health and nutrition blog) -- https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/

• CDC Global Health in the News -- https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/inthenews.htm

• Our Global Voices (CDC’s global health blog) -- https://blogs.cdc.gov/global/

• Global Health Now’s Essential News and Views in Global Health (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) -- https://www.globalhealthnow.org/

• In-Training: The agora of the medical student community (an online, peer-reviewed publication written by medical students for medical students) -- https://in-training.org/

Happy Reading!

~Dr. J

Pre-Health Prep Series: What is CASPer?

Application season is upon us! It's the time of year when students are finishing up polishing their personal essays, making sure their letter-writers are getting all of their materials submitted, and working their way through the rest of the application process, which varies a lot between different professions. As you move forward, you may find a reference to something called CASPer, which is an acronym for the Computer Based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics (don't ask me where the "C" went or why there's an "er" on the end of it...). CASPer is a type of situational judgement test, which can help admissions committees understand your behavioral tendencies and assess how you would behave in certain situations. It is designed to help schools select applicants with developed soft skills that are often difficult to assess from traditional application features, such as GPA or MCAT scores.

CASPer assesses your abilities and competencies in:

• Collaboration
• Communication
• Empathy
• Equity
• Ethics
• Motivation
• Problem Solving
• Professionalism
• Resilience
• Self-Awareness

Who requires that I take the CASPer?
There are a wide range of programs the currently require applicants to take the CASPer. Some programs require that you take the test as part of the primary application, which others will only require you to take the test as part of the secondary application process. There are many MD, DO, and PA schools that require CASPer, along with a few Anesthesiologist Assistant, Dentistry, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Nursing programs as well. You can use this website to help you determine if a program you are interested in applying to requires applicants to take the CASPer: https://takecasper.com/dates-times/

How is the test structured?
CASPer takes about 60-90 minutes and offers one, optional 15 minute break halfway through the exam. There are 12 sections, each containing a video or written scenario and three open-ended questions for each scenario. You will have 5-minutes to respond to these questions.

How is the test scored and when will my scores released?
The exam is scored by a group of human raters. Each section is rated by different people with extensive training and investment in the future of the profession. This takes about 3 weeks to process and your results will be released directly to your designated programs. The scores are only valid for one application cycle.

When/where can I take the test?
The exam is only offered on select dates/times. If a program where you are planning to apply requires applicants to take the CASPer, you'll need to register at least 3 days prior to your preferred test date.

How much does the test cost?
The exam currently costs $10 to take and an additional $10 for each program that you will need to send your scores to after you complete it.

How do I prepare for the test?
This isn't the kind of test that you can study for. To be prepared, you need to make sure that you have all of the necessary hardware for the test and that your computer can run the tests effectively (or schedule time with our testing center here on campus). When you run the CASPer Systems Requirements Check, you'll be able to run through a practice test to help you gain a better sense of the timing for the test. You can also review some sample scenarios/questions and read about other test prep activities by going here.

How do I maximize my chances of success on the test?
Start by not worrying or becoming overly anxious about the test. This isn't a "make or break" part of your application, it just gives admissions committees more information about who you are as a person and contributes to their overall understanding of how you react in different situations. Here's a few quick tips to help you do the best that you can:

• Make sure that you have a quiet place, free of distractions, where you can take the test. If needed, you can work with our testing center on campus to schedule a space.
• Do the systems check early so that you don't have an unnecessary stress on test day.
• Read all three questions and take a moment to reflect before you respond. This will help you to avoid repeating yourself as you move through the questions and will reduce the chances of you completely forgetting to address a question fully.
• Try to cover the issue from the broadest perspective that you can. Be sure to consider all aspects of the dilemma.
• Take the full five minutes to develop and review your responses. If you finish before the time is up, review your answers to see if you can add or clarify anything that may be unclear about your response.
• Don't panic if you aren't able to finish your thought. Because you'll only have 5 minutes to answer 3 questions, it is likely that you may have a few scenarios for which you are not able to finish typing in all of your thoughts before the system moves you to the next section. The raters are used to seeing unfinished responses and are explicitly trained to ignore spelling and grammar issues. The raters will be focusing on your content, so just do your best to make your point quickly.
• Remember that each section is graded by a different rater, so don't get hung up on a response that you weren't satisfied with from a previous section. Use the few seconds between sections and the 15 minute break to mentally reset for the scenarios that are yet to come.
• Keep in mind that there aren't "right" and "wrong" answers on the CASPer. Just be yourself and answer honestly!

Other FAQs regarding the CASPer can be found here.