NYACH Ready
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Resources for Students
Tools and resources for high school students participating in work-based learning programs for healthcare professions
The Benefits of Work-Based Learning (WBL) Programs for Students
Work-based learning programs are a great opportunity to explore healthcare careers before you find yourself in long-term, full-time work.
These programs involve career exploration opportunities—ranging from guest speaker talks by local healthcare professionals to full clinical internships—and can help you better understand the wide range of healthcare career paths available and expose you to real-life workplace scenarios that will help you develop key skills and make informed decisions about your future education and career.
Healthcare makes up about 20% of the New York City economy and employs hundreds of thousands of workers who do thousands of types of jobs. While careers as a doctor or nurse might first jump to mind, the sector employs many different types of people with all sorts of backgrounds and strengths who do meaningful, impactful work. We need our doctors and nurses, but we also need people to work in laboratories, in mental health settings, with technology and finance, and much more, whether in a hospital, home, or out in the community!
Whatever you are good at or want to learn more about, there is a career for you in the healthcare industry.
The NYACH Ready for Healthcare work-based learning model and this supporting toolkit were created to help you learn about these opportunities in a four-year high school program, with the first year focused on foundational curriculum, the second on career exploration, the third on building professional skills through a project-based internship, and the last on building technical skills through a clinical internship.
That said, many of the tools in this toolkit are easy to use as standalone resources or as small bundles. Whether you’re participating in a formal work-based learning program, or simply looking for help crafting your resume or brushing up on email etiquette, this toolkit contains resources that can help you.
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Whether you’re attending a healthcare guest speaker event, taking part in a formal internship, or preparing for what’s next after graduation, our most popular resources are modular, easy-to-use, and highly adaptable.
Jump to a set of popular materials for students below, or keep scrolling to browse all available resources.
All Resources
for Students
Although this toolkit was designed to accompany the Ready for Healthcare four-year program model, all of the materials can be used as standalone tools or in bundles organized around main topics or activities.
Download all resources for students by clicking the button below, or select individual documents or bundles in the sections that follow.
Resumes, Interviews & Professional Etiquette
Navigating the world of resumes, interviews, and thank-you emails for the first time can be daunting, especially when many existing resources aren’t designed specifically for professional experiences in the healthcare industry. Luckily, the NYACH Ready for Healthcare Toolkit contains resources to help you cultivate your professional skills, all with the healthcare context in mind.
How to Write Your First Resume
Thank You Email Tips and Template
Industry Guest Speaker Events
Guest speaker events hosted by your school are a great way to learn about healthcare career paths, professionals’ trajectories, trends in the industry, and more. The Toolkit includes content that will help you reflect on your experience attending a guest speaker event, take effective notes, and ask questions to make sure you’re getting the most out of the experience.
Healthcare Career Expos
At a Healthcare Career Expo, your school will bring together professionals from a number of healthcare organizations and subfields to share their experiences with students like you. The NYACH Ready for Healthcare Career Expo structure focuses on panel discussion and keynote presentations, giving you the chance to ask questions and learn about multiple healthcare career opportunities.
Student Packet for Career Expos
NYC Department of Education Work-Based Learning Travel and Media Consent Form
Workplace Tours
Sometimes it can be hard to connect what you’re learning in school with how healthcare professionals and work environments operate “in real life.” Workplace tours are a great way to get a glimpse into the day-to-day rhythms of a healthcare workplace and the skills that healthcare careers require.
Student Packet for Workplace Tours
NYC Department of Education Work-Based Learning Travel and Media Consent Form
Professional Skills Internships
Professional skills internships help you develop general industry knowledge and employability skills, and help you get acquainted with healthcare work environments before focusing on your technical skills.
In addition to a packet designed for students like you, this section includes resources that your employer (i.e. your internship host) could use to track and assess your progress. These workplace and industry skills profiles allow you to see what skills you should expect to focus on and, eventually, be evaluated on. Because the profiles are designed to be used across multiple years of the program, they are split into the two clinical internship tracks, focused on certified nursing assistant and medical assistant professions.
Student Packet for Professional Skills Internships
Sample Professional Internship Projects (Designed for Employers)
Technical Skills Internships
Once students feel comfortable in the professional workplace and have learned clinical skills in the classroom, they can participate in a hands-on clinical experience at a healthcare employer like a hospital, clinic, or nursing home. The technical skills internship tools included in this resource focus on one of two career pathways: certified nursing assistant or medical assistant. Of course, there are MANY more types of jobs than just certified nurse assistant and medical assistant—you should feel free to explore and consider any type of job that strikes your curiosity!
In addition to a packet designed for students like you, this section includes resources that your employer (i.e. your internship host) could use to track and assess your progress. These workplace and industry skills profiles allow you to see what skills you should expect to focus on and, eventually, be evaluated on. All materials pertaining to technical skills internships in this toolkit are specific to one of the two tracks (CNA and MA).
Certified Nursing Assistant Track
Student Packet for CNA Technical Skills Internships
Profile of Workplace and Industry Skills for CNA Track Students (Designed for Employers)
CNA Internship Description (Designed for Employers)
Medical Assistant Track
Student Packet for MA Technical Skills Internships
Profile of Workplace and Industry Skills for MA Track Students (Designed for Employers)
Additional Resources
Included here are additional materials that pertain to other aspects of the Ready for Healthcare model that might be of interest to you, including curricula and other tools that a teacher or mentor might use to support your exploration of healthcare careers.
Curricula
NYACH Core Competencies for Today's Healthcare Workforce
NYC Department of Education CTE Healthcare Curriculum
Working with a Mentor
Sample NYACH Ready for Healthcare Mentorship Program Agreement (For Mentees)
Post-Graduation
NYACH’s Ready for Healthcare initiative was funded as part of JPMorgan Chase’s New Skills for Youth initiative.