Sandhills Community College is joining forces with Pinehurst Surgical Clinic to add an additional clinical component to the pre-professional training for health science students at the college.

The Body of Knowledge project will give students hands-on experiences in one of the nation's premier technical-skills teaching facilities. The project involves bringing students into the BioSkills Lab at Pinehurst Surgical Clinic and giving them interactions with human cadavers.

The project is an integration of surgical, anatomical and practical instruction as a clinical component to pre-professional training. This next generation of medical professionals will also be exposed to products, technologies, and services that better prepare them for the work force.

Twenty second-year surgical technology students from Sandhills were recently brought into the BioSkills Lab. Dr. Ward S. Oakley, Connie Tighe, APRN-BC, Kristin Blatz, PA-C, and B.J. Goodridge, CMA, MHA, provided the students with a knee anatomy lab.

The students were able to explore actual human knees, learning the true appearance and feel of procedures that cannot be gained any other way. Every student was allowed a hands-on experience.

Sandhills Community College has long set the standard for two-year programs in medicine in North Carolina. The Body of Knowledge initiative is the next step in blending classroom instruction in select programs with clinical practice. The integration of surgical, anatomical, and practical instruction on human cadavers as a clinical component of pre-professional training is uncommon in health programs at community colleges.

The use of the BioSkills Lab, equipment, cadavers, and medical professional instruction is very expensive. The initiative will begin in earnest when corporate and individual sponsorships are acquired.

Anyone needing more information about the initiative or to inquire about becoming a partner in the Body of Knowledge project can contact Leah Burger at 246-4131 or burgerl@sandhills.edu.