New to teaching - allied health at a HS

[pinkiepie_RN]

I'll be teaching using Sorrentino's 7th edition Textbook for Nursing Assistants. I am being hired halfway through the year and will be working with a mentor and one of the other allied health teachers for the first few weeks. Any advice for working with HS students? I'll be teaching grades 11 and 12 for 90 minutes/day with 2 planning periods in there as well. The students get their English/Science/Math at their home schools, since this is a vocational school only.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

Two of the high schools in town call me in for at least one lecture per semester. I talk about health careers. Look to see if there is an Adult Health Education Center (AHEC) in your area. They are all over the US and their mission is to connect students, even HS students, to the health industry. Sometimes I bring in other speakers from various disciplines to talk about what they do during a normal day, what ENTRY level pay is and how long did it take to be qualified to be hired. I provide the students with a comparison grid for them to consider different areas of healthcare. For the CNA students I discuss the length of time it takes to be an LVN or RN, etc. I provide scenarios and challenge them to think why they are doing what they do and always emphasize the importance of the CNA as they are interacting directly with patients (when to call in nurse, how toevaluate when it is time to get help with transferring and lifting, how to handle conflicts, HIPAA---). They appreciate being treated like adults. Good luck!