Career-Minded Students Get Dose of Reality at Hospital

She said little, listening intently as the tiny exam room filled with the reassuringly rapid chug chug of the baby’s heartbeat.

It was the first time the soon-to-be parents heard the joyous sound. It was also a first for high school junior Raquel Leyva, who spent Friday morning posing as a Doogie Howser wannabe, following a physician who specializes in delivering babies at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley.

It used to be enough to dissect a frog--or maybe even the dreaded fetal pig--to get kids on a chosen path. But the 10th annual Students in Business Day tries to give youths a closer look at potential careers in the hope it will energize them to commit to the long, tough hours of studying and schooling that lie ahead.

As part of the half-day program, businesses and organizations served as classrooms Friday for 55 Fountain Valley high school students mulling their futures.

For six students who participated at the Fountain Valley hospital, the experience offered an up-close glimpse of working in medicine.

Leyva said that being a doctor had always been a dream--but never quite a reality--until Friday.

“I’ve talked about being in medicine since I was a little girl. But this is the first time I’ll actually get to do it,” she said.

Leyva--wearing a white lab coat--got a taste of the joys of obstetrics witnessing two ultrasounds.

As the 13-week-old fetus came into view, Dr. Timothy Rand pointed out its knee, foot, hands and fingers for the parents--and for Leyva, who was thrilled.

“That was awesome!” she said afterward. “That was cool. . . . [This] has definitely opened up a new field for me. I never even knew about obstetrics before.”

For Sara Kernan, 17, the outing confirmed her career choice. She said she decided to become a physical therapist after spending hours being treated by one after an injury. “[My doctor] sort of became my hero,” she said.

On Friday, seeing therapists help a man with Parkinson’s disease learn to walk again left a lasting impression. “It was really sad. It kind of broke your heart,” she said.

Kernan said she could sense how the disease had affected the man’s family members, who were present for the session. She said she now knows that therapy involves healing families as well as patients.

While two other students watched a baby’s circumcision Friday, senior Zach Hardin said he learned that a doctor’s bedside manner can be as much a cure as any elixir.

“You have to know if a patient is upset,” he said. “You have to know how to handle it--how to smooth things over.”

Hardin spent the morning shadowing hospital Chief of Staff Frank Marino on his rounds, which included releasing an overjoyed gallbladder patient and checking up on others recovering from surgery.

Hoping to become either a family physician or a pediatrician, Hardin said that Friday’s experience strengthened his resolve to tackle medical school.

“I became more excited after seeing how happy you can make patients. You can give them hope. Doctors are what people rely on,” he said.