Health Care Notes: Hospitals engage students to build employment pipelines

Twenty high school students from Metro Nashville Public Schools and Rutherford County Schools are gaining experience working at Ascension Saint Thomas hospitals through the inaugural class of the organization’s work-based learning programs.

In the year-long program, students earn class credits and are paid hourly as they work a minimum of 10 hours per week at the hospital helping with patient transfers, transporting specimens and equipment, shadowing various departments and providing basic patient care under supervision. Students are encouraged to apply for open positions at Ascension Saint Thomas facilities or pursue higher education in health care upon completion of the program, according to a press release.