NYACH Ready
for Healthcare
Toolkit Home | Materials by Role | Materials by Activity
Resources for Employers
Tools and resources for healthcare employers participating in work-based learning activities
The Benefits of Working with Young Adults
Participating in work-based learning activities with young adults—whether through hosting interns, serving as a mentor, or sharing your story as a guest speaker—is a wonderful way to give back to your community, to capitalize on the energy and ideas young people bring to the work, and to ensure that the future workforce is trained with the skills you actually need.
On the other hand, through many conversations with healthcare institutions, we know that employers often want but struggle to engage in meaningful work-based learning with high school students. Sometimes concerns are focused on patient care and patient safety, sometimes they are about student preparedness, and other times concerns are simply about the amount of time or effort it takes to engage with work-based learning activities.
The NYACH Ready for Healthcare work-based learning model and this supporting toolkit were created with exactly these concerns in mind. The four-year model was explicitly designed for both employers and educators—structuring learning activities to be relevant to the skills employers need, ensuring they are developmentally appropriate for students, and creating easily modifiable industry-validated tools to support the full range of work-based learning activities.
For employers looking to work with New York City Department of Education Career and Technical Education programs in Healthcare, please e-mail the NYCDOE CTE team.
Jump to an
activity
Whether you’re exploring opportunities to participate in work-based learning for the first time, or are simply looking for new materials to incorporate into an existing program, our resources are modular, easy-to-use, and highly adaptable.
Jump to a set of popular materials for employers organized by work-based learning activity type, or keep scrolling to browse all available resources.
All Resources
for Employers
To get started, download the NYACH Ready for Healthcare Employer Orientation Guide, click here.
Although the Guide was designed as a primer for employers participating in the NYACH Ready for Healthcare four-year model, it contains useful information about sequencing and timing the use of materials, as well as learning goals, and may be instructive if you are exploring more comprehensive WBL program options.
Download all resources for employers by clicking the button below. You can also download resources as individual documents or as organized bundles in the sections that follow.
Hosting a High School Intern
Internship programs are great opportunities for students to develop relevant professional and clinical skills in “real life” work environments, where they can support and learn from employers in a variety of settings and roles.
The NYACH Ready for Healthcare Toolkit includes both general materials for employers looking to get started with hosting high school interns, as well as specific content for different internship types.
Organized to support the specific structure of the NYACH Ready for Healthcare initiative’s four-year model, below you will find detailed materials for the following types of internships:
professional skills internships that focus on work-readiness skills, and
technical skills / clinical internships—in particular, this toolkit features materials for students on certified nursing assistant or medical assistant path.
Launching an Internship Program
Resources for healthcare institutions and professionals looking to get started with a high school internship program, including important guidelines and planning tools.
Overview & Planning
NYACH Core Competencies for Today’s Healthcare Workforce — Curriculum Reference Document
Considerations When Working with High School Students
Overview of Relevant Internship Regulations
Employer Learnings on Hosting High School Internships
Sample Internship Job Descriptions
Hosting a Professional Skills Intern
In the NYACH Ready for Healthcare work-based learning model, professional skills internships typically take place in 11th grade. Unlike clinical internships — which focus on technical skills associated with specific healthcare careers — professional skills internships help students learn what it’s like to actually work in a healthcare setting. Through a professional skills internship, students practice what they’ve learned in school and get hands-on experience with professional norms and expectations. This is a great way for employers to mentor and prepare learners for future employment and success, and for students to learn “what it’s really like” in the workplace.
Planning & Execution
Interview Guide and Evaluation for Employers
Sample Professional Internship Projects
Internship Project Description Form
Assessment & Evaluation
Profile of Workplace and Industry Skills for Certified Nursing Assistant Track Students
Profile of Workplace and Industry Skills for Medical Assistant Track Students
Supervisor Internship Evaluation Survey
Tips for Writing Student Letters of Recommendations
Hosting a Technical Skills Intern: Certified Nursing Assistant Track
In the NYACH Ready for Healthcare work-based learning model, technical (or clinical) skills internships typically take place in the fourth year, or 12th grade. Through a technical skills internship, students practice patient care skills they’ve learned in the classroom directly with patients under the supervision of a qualified health professional. This is a great way for employers to help students excel and become fully productive members of a care team and for students to get hands-on experience working directly in patient care.
Although many of the included materials are adaptable to different occupational paths, this segment of the toolkit is tailored to technical skills internships in the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) learning path.
Planning & Execution
General Employer Guide for Clinical / Technical Skills Internships
Interview Guide and Evaluation for Employers
CNA Internship Outline and Skills Checklist
Assessment & Evaluation
Profile of Workplace and Industry Skills for CNA Track Students
Hosting a Technical Skills Intern: Medical Assistant Track
In the NYACH Ready for Healthcare work-based learning model, technical (or clinical) skills internships typically take place in the fourth year, or 12th grade. Through a technical skills internship, students practice patient care skills they’ve learned in the classroom directly with patients under the supervision of a qualified health professional. This is a great way for employers to help students excel and become fully productive members of a care team and for students to get hands-on experience working directly in patient care.
Although many of the included materials are adaptable to different occupational paths, this segment of the toolkit is tailored to technical skills internships in the Medical Assistant learning path.
Planning & Execution
General Employer Guide for Clinical / Technical Skills Internships
Interview Guide and Evaluation for Employers
MA Internship Outline and Skills Checklist
Assessment & Evaluation
Profile of Workplace and Industry Skills for MA Track Students
Attending a Career Expo
A career expo offers a unique opportunity for professionals from a number of healthcare subsectors and organizations to share their experiences with students. The NYACH Ready for Healthcare Career Expo structure emphasizes panel discussions and keynote speeches to create an interactive experience during which students can ask questions and encounter a breadth of healthcare career possibilities, in many cases for the first time. Career Expo materials for employers include guiding questions for participating employers to consider when they are invited to schools.
Sample Plenary Panel Questions for Healthcare Industry Leadership / HR
Sample Breakout Panel Questions for Healthcare Industry Professionals
Post-Event Employer Evaluation
Hosting a Workplace Tour
Inviting students to tour your workplace creates incredible opportunities for them to see healthcare professionals in action and better understand what happens in “real-life” work environments. Use the tools below to plan and structure a workplace tour — in collaboration with a school or educator — for students participating in work-based learning.
Activity Field Guide with Sample Activities
Healthcare Profiles Activity (Types of Healthcare Professions)
Speaking at a Local School
Sharing your story with students as a guest speaker is a wonderful and low-commitment opportunity to give back to your community and help prepare the future workforce for the challenge, fun, and diversity of opportunities in healthcare careers. For students, guest speaker events offer an accessible way to grow their familiarity with the full diversity of healthcare careers, learn more about the trajectories that healthcare professionals have taken to arrive in their current roles, and connect with potential mentors.
Speaking opportunities can be either in-person or virtual, and provide you and your organization with a meaningful way to build relationships with local schools and students, whether or not you choose to become more deeply involved in work-based learning in the future. The suggested talking points for guest speakers can help guide your presentation or provide inspiration for topics you may want to cover.
Suggested Talking Points for Guest Speakers
NYACH’s Ready for Healthcare initiative was funded as part of JPMorgan Chase’s New Skills for Youth initiative.