How long does it take you to get a doctor's appointment? We simply don't have enough doctors in Las Vegas to keep up with our booming population. And it can be traced back to the lack of a quality education.
In our new series Raising The Bar , we'll show you how the Clark County Medical Society is working to change that by recruiting hometown doctors with an internship program for high school students.
Watch the full story with Tricia Kean tonight at 6 p.m. on 13 Action News.
Dr. Daniel Burkhead from The Innovative Pain Care Center is being shadowed for the day by Elizabeth Kac. She's a high school senior from the Adelson Educational Campus. When Elizabeth was 10 years old, she lost her mother to cancer. The experience fostered her interest in medicine.
"Since then I have been very motivated to give back to all the doctors that helped my mom through the whole thing," Elizabeth said.
The Clark County Medical Society hopes that students like Elizabeth who go through this program will choose to go to medical school in southern Nevada. And students who attend medical school here are more likely to stay here.
"Where they decide to practice is in large ratio to where they do their training, where they do their residence," according to Alexandra Silver, Executive Director of the Clark County Medical Society.
Dr. Burkhead is able to show Elizabeth the real world of a doctor's daily practice, such as how procedures are performed and how to read MRIs. "I feel that we all learn better by observing directly," he said.
The students have a lot of questions. They are curious to know things like how doctors get reimbursed for procedures and the types of liabilities that doctors face. It's helpful insight for students who face a long road if they choose to become a doctor.
"You read about it in the textbooks and can sit through a million classes but you don't really know until you're up close and get first-hand experience," Elizabeth added.
Elizabeth is already considering staying local for financial reasons now that UNLV has a medical school.
Click here for more information on this internship program.
If you have an idea for a future Raising The Bar story, email us at raisingthebar@ktnv.com
