A Minority Health Careers Exposure Program

The University of Tennessee-Memphis (UT-M) Health Careers Exposure Program was initiated in response to the complaint of minority college students that basic medical science laboratories and clinical centers at private and state-supported health-science organizations in Tennessee were inaccessible to them as career-motivating, summer work experiences. The preceptor-apprentice relationship was the means utilized to expose and stimulate minority college students to enter health careers in this study. The formal activity was usually conducted for eight to ten weeks of summer vacation in the basic science and clinical facilities on the UT-M campus.A survey of the current career activities of former apprentices suggests that direct exposure of academically talented, minority college students to health careers is a factor that increases the number entering the health professions.