Student Orientation

This page contains details of the orientation process reprinted here from the Executive Handbook for better accessibility.

     1.     Students who wish to participate will fill out an application to become a “Volunteer” at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital (SVBGH). This includes HIPPA regulations and requires a parent’s signature to permit any student to participate in this program. Students will then complete an essay on why they wish to be selected. Karen Richendollar and Susan Milne in the Education Office at Sentara can provide the forms required and assist with this process. This should be done before December 31 each year if possible, especially for Bayside. Norfolk Academy can be done in January or February, since they won’t start shadowing until the summer.

     2.     Students will then be selected by school officials according to GPA, personal scores and essay results.

     3.     Orientation Day: Selected students will come to SVBGH, approximately 24 at a time and meet in the Health Education Center or one of the other conference rooms (TBD). Orientation Days will be scheduled in January of each year and orchestrated by the Coordinating Committee. Parents may accompany the students if they wish during the first part of the orientation until they are split up into groups for the hospital tour. At that time, parents can meet separately with one or more members of the Coordinating Committee, Nursing, and/or Administrators to answer any questions they might have.

          a.     Physicians will give talks on 1. “Why Be a Physician?” and 2. “The Road to Medical School.”

          b.     Nursing will talk about 1. Sterilization Techniques, 2. Patient Privacy, 3. Hand washing, 4. Gowning up for Procedures or for Isolation Rooms.

          c.     EMT will give a presentation on 1.CPR, 2. Stop the Bleeding, 3. How to take vital signs. 4. Basic first aid.

          d.     Then students will be split into 4 groups of 6 each for a tour of the hospital. Each group will then be escorted to four different areas of the hospital including 1. Endoscopy, 2. Operating Rooms, 3. Radiology, and 4. Cardiac Cath Lab. After ~ 15 minutes in each area, the groups will be rotated to the different areas until all have been seen. The Emergency Room and/or Intensive Care Unit may also be included if time allows.

          e.     After lunch, students will go to Occupational Health and receive a TB skin test (Intermediate PPD), and any immunizations they might need.

          f.      Then students will be escorted to the Security Room near the ER to have their picture taken to be put on a badge that they must wear whenever they are in the hospital or medical office.

          g.     Schools will be responsible for supplying a white coat for each student.

          h.     After completion of Orientation Day, students may begin selecting various rotations with the different outpatient offices or inpatient hospital areas depending on availability as shown on the digital calendar on the website.

          i.      Each student will be expected to do at least 5 of these rotations over the next 5 months.

          j.      After each session, students must write up a report on what they experienced, what they learned, whether they felt the experience was worth it, and if they have any suggestions for improvement.

          k.     We will arrange for several orientation days in January of each year to accommodate all the students.

     4.     Student safety will be a top priority. There will be supervision by office or hospital personnel at all times. If any student illness occurs while observing or shadowing, the student may have to be escorted to the Emergency Room for evaluation and treatment if necessary. Fainting is not uncommon when students are first exposed to certain procedures.

     5.     Students who complete the program will receive certificates of accomplishment and a reference letter to be used for application to colleges of their choice.