For years, News 5 has reported on the shortage of professionals entering the healthcare field.
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According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States will face a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036.
With challenges ahead, there are efforts to attract more people to the profession and introduce them to specialties they might not have considered.
Case Western Reserve University Medical Student Rachel Gardenhire completed a clinical rotation with the Cleveland Browns.
“I had a fully immersive experience,” she said. “I really got to see what happens with the NFL and at the Browns’ training facility as well as what happens in the office at [University Hospitals] and the operating room.”
The Strongsville native earned this opportunity through the NFL’s Diversity In Sports Medicine Pipeline Initiative. She was one of several medical students across the country to participate in clinical rotations with professional teams.
Senior VP of Player Health and Development for the Browns, Joe Sheehan, said it’s a fast-paced environment.
She gets to learn “what a Monday post-game clinic runs like, what a Thursday pre-game clinic runs like, what in-game medical decisions feel like, what post-game medical decisions feel like, what the follow up is with that and just the natural cadence of sports medicine through the week and really through the month of an NFL season.”
Chair of University Hospitals Department of Orthopedic and Sports Medicine and Browns’ Head Team Physician, Dr. James Voos, said the initiative helps to diversify this field.
“We have very diverse athletes in all our sports and I think having physicians and healthcare providers that can relate and have had similar life experiences to our athletes is very important and I think it allows us to take better care of our patients,” he said.
“Our number of women and minorities in orthopedic and sports medicine is a lower percentage that in our other medical specialties.”
Gardenhire said she’s ready to go the orthopedic surgeon route.
“A lot of us in medicine kind of have our little self doubts and just like, oh, can I really do this? Am I going to fit? I think this experience, the biggest push it gave me was that yes, not only do I really like it but giving me the confidence that I can do it,” she said.
A representative from UH tells News 5 the program will be offered next season and the Browns are participating.
