Scott A. Geist, Surgical Technology Program director at Pennsylvania College of Technology, was recently appointed to the eight-member Board of Directors of the Accreditation Review Council on Education in Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting.
Geist has served as an ARC/STSA accreditation site visitor since 2009. His three-year term on its Board of Directors will begin June 1.
Around 250 students and employees from the School of Health Sciences participated in three days’ worth of emergency simulations on campus this week. In its third year, the exercise is known as the Interdisciplinary Professional Event and provides a unique opportunity for students and faculty from different majors within the School of Health Sciences to collaboratively care for patients.
As part of an event that spanned northeastern and northcentral Pennsylvania and involved more than 1,000 students at various locations across the region, the sixth annual Collaborative Care Summit convened at Penn College on Wednesday. Nineteen dedicated faculty/staff facilitators from a variety of health professions, including physicians, led discussions in the Bush Campus Center among students from several colleges and universities who are pursuing studies in a wide range of health disciplines. The Collaborative Care Summit is arranged by the Northeastern/Central Pennsylvania Interprofessional Education Coalition – of which Sharon K. Waters, associate dean of health sciences, is a member. Waters coordinated the Penn College event, and co-presented the opening session with Dr. Keith Shenberger, Susquehanna Health TCMC, which brought together about 100 students from Penn College, Lock Haven University, Wilkes University and The Commonwealth Medical College. The students participated in roundtable discussions of a medical case, learning from one another how each discipline contributes to a patient’s care. “The goal of interprofessional learning is to prepare all health professions students for deliberatively working together, with the goal of building a safer and better patient-centered and community-orientated health care system,” Waters explained. “It was impressive to hear what each student contributed to the interprofessional discussion and rewarding to know our students are being prepared to work as a collaborative team toward quality patient care.” Student participants represented 10 professions, from paramedic to pharmacy to medicine to nursing. Simultaneous events were held in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre at Marywood University, The Commonwealth Medical College, The University of Scranton, Kings College and Misericordia University.
Penn College’s exciting two- and four-year majors were on display throughout the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg (Jan. 10-17), where representatives of the Admissions Office and the college’s six academic schools entertained, educated – and even fed – the throng attending the traditional agricultural expo.
Students representing nearly all of the majors in the School of Health Sciences gathered in the Thompson Professional Development Center on Friday to learn from one another as they discussed their differing roles in a medical case. The “tabletop” Interdisciplinary Professional Event is designed to help Penn College students understand the perspectives and duties of others on a medical team in the interest of holistic treatment for their future patients. The school provides its students with a hands-on IPE in the spring, when actors simulate medical emergencies across campus.
Photo by Kim A. Speicher, dental hygiene instructor
Pennsylvania College of Technology’s surgical technology Class of 2015 is joining hospitals and colleges throughout the U.S. in celebrating National Surgical Technologists Week, Sept. 21-27.
The week is promoted through the Association of Surgical Technologists to recognize this important segment of the health care field. To celebrate, Penn College students painted “The Rock,” a unique campus “billboard,” and were treated to a surprise lunch to start off the week.
A student faced with leaving school remains, thanks in large part to an academic mentor who went the extra mile to seek help from other staff. Academic mentors are Penn College employees who volunteer to meet regularly with students who seek guidance and moral support. Read the full story in the Fall 2014 One College Avenue.
More than 900 middle schoolers and their chaperones visited main campus Monday, attending faculty-led sessions in many Penn College majors, all to give them a taste of career options. The event, which attracted eight school districts, was coordinated by the college’s Outreach for K-12 Office.
To facilitate collaboration among various health disciplines, the School of Health Sciences staged a series of mock health emergencies on campus this week. Approximately 195 students from eight of the school’s programs – Dental Hygiene, Health Information Technology, Paramedic, Physician Assistant, Nursing, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Radiography and Surgical Technology – participated in the event as health professionals, actors and observers. The event presented an opportunity for the students to develop relationships with other health care students and a better understanding of their role. More than 50 faculty and staff members facilitated the event across three days.
Photos by Cletus G. Waldman, clinical director, radiography; and Kim A. Speicher, dental hygiene instructor
A new video initiative joins the highlights on the Penn College YouTube Channel: “Your Class in 60 Seconds” allows faculty and students to showcase specific courses and provide prospective students with a sense of what they could experience at the college. The first two videos of the series focus on dental radiology lab with Kimberly A. Speicher, instructor of dental hygiene, and the basics of surgical technology, facilitated by students who have completed the Introduction to Surgical Technology and Patient Care Concepts course. The short videos are produced by the College Information and Community Relations office. As with all Penn College videos, the campus community is encouraged to share these latest offerings in social media circles.
As part of an event that spanned northeastern and northcentral Pennsylvania and involved 805 students, the fifth annual Collaborative Care Summit convened at Penn College on Wednesday. Twenty-two facilitators from a variety of health professions, including physicians, led discussions in the Bush Campus Center among students from several colleges and universities who are pursuing studies in a wide range of health disciplines. The Collaborative Care Summit is arranged by the Northeastern/Central Pennsylvania Interprofessional Education Coalition – of which Sharon K. Waters, associate dean of health sciences, is a member. Waters facilitated the Penn College event, which brought together about 135 students from Penn College, Lock Haven University, Wilkes University, The Commonwealth Medical College and Marywood University. Dr. Keith Shenberger, of Susquehanna Health and The Commonwealth Medical College’s Williamsport Campus, co-presented both opening and closing presentations with Waters. The students participated in roundtable discussions of a medical case, learning from one another how each discipline contributes to a patient’s care. “The goal of interprofessional learning is to prepare all health-professions students for deliberatively working together, with the common goal of building a safer and better patient-centered and community/population-orientated U.S. health care system,” Waters explained. “It was so impressive to hear what each student contributed to the collaborative care interprofessional team approach in representing their respective health care discipline.” Student participants represented 15 professions, from dental hygiene to pharmacy to medicine to social work. Simultaneous events were held in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre at Marywood University, The Commonwealth Medical College, The University of Scranton, Kings College and Misericordia University.
Students in the Surgical Technology Program at Pennsylvania College of Technology gathered Sept. 16 to celebrate National Surgical Technologist week, observed annually the third week of September.
Surgical technologists are an integral part of the team of medical practitioners providing surgical care to patients. Surgical technologists work under the supervision of a surgeon to facilitate the safe and effective conduct of invasive surgical procedures, ensuring that the operating room environment is safe, that equipment functions properly and that operative procedure is conducted under conditions that maximize patient safety.
Around 40 ninth- to 12th-graders stayed on campus this week to get a hands-on introduction to a variety of fields during Health Careers Camp. The two-day camp is presented by Penn College and Susquehanna Health. In addition to workshops in the School of Health Sciences, participants tour various Susquehanna Health facilities and interact with college students and faculty, as well as Susquehanna Health employees.
Photos by Whitnie-rae Mays, student photographer
International students from Penn College and Lycoming College shared their experiences during a Global Women’s Panel discussion held Thursday in the Bush Campus Center. The discussion was coordinated by Malinda Love, assistant director of student activities for diversity and cultural life at Penn College (seated at far right in the accompanying photo), and Jean Wool, executive assistant for student affairs and Multicultural Awareness Group adviser at Lycoming College.
The surgical technology program in Penn College’s School of Health Sciences celebrated National Surgical Technologist Week – Sept. 16-21 – by setting up an educational display on the ground floor of the Madigan Library and sharing a celebratory lunch. Surgical technologists are vital members of the surgical team. They help to enhance surgical safety, prevent surgical site infections and achieve successful outcomes. Surgical technologists use their expertise to prepare the operating room. During procedures, the surgical technologist stands next to the surgeon and the patient, helping the surgeon with equipment throughout the surgery, expediting surgical procedures by swiftly passing and skillfully using appropriate surgical instruments, and monitoring surgical instruments and supplies to ensure no foreign objects are retained. Surgical technologists are specifically trained and responsible for maintaining the integrity of the sterile field.