Hopeful doctors from Providence High put their skills to the test

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Representatives from medical supply company Covidien are on site at Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank today to train doctors on their surgical equipment.


But these trainees aren't physicians. They are juniors and seniors from Providence High School.


They are learning about surgical tools that reduce once invasive surgeries into surgeries with only one incision and even get to practice with the real tools.


Armed with long needles, the students mimicked performing complicated surgery through a tiny mock incision in a mock stomach, relying on a TV screen to guide their tools.



"It was really entertaining" said senior Anna Solis. " It was just something completely different ... when you go to high school you don't expect to be practicing surgical procedures."


"It's actually kind of like a video game in a way because you're using hand eye coordination," said senior Jasmine Raymundo. "I also found it entertaining because I am kind of imitating what the doctors do just in a simpler way."


The students are members of Providence's Medical Focus Program.


The program, which began in 1989, prepares a select group of students for careers in the medical field.


The students take extra classes in the health science field and go on trips such as this one. Ten students were chosen to come on this trip today.


Arjan Harjani, the director of the program, says the activity today is one of the best in the program's history.


"It's the excitement they show on their faces, it's the engagement they show with the procedures, it's the willingness to learn," he said.


Hospital spokeswoman Patricia Aidem says the program is a big deal for the hospital as well.


"We need more doctors and they are next door training them," she said.


Many of the students say they are planning to become doctors or nurses in the future.