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About the Internship
About the Internship
The big "Why" of my internship at IU Echo Center is to improve access to high-quality treatment for common, complex, and chronic health conditions in Indiana. With support from interdisciplinary teams of medical specialists based in Indianapolis, the IU Indianapolis ECHO Center uses technology to facilitate mentoring and knowledge sharing, enabling clinicians to provide best-practice care locally.
A brief video explaining Project Echo, and how it works!
IUI ECHO Center: ECHO is a movement that uses local care teams and interdisciplinary specialists to increase knowledge and enable care teams to provide best-practice care for complex chronic health conditions. Our mission is to enable rural and underserved communities to receive better quality care that's closer to home, and when they need it. A great benefit of participating in an echo session is that you can gain continuing medical education credits (CME) for free.
Project Summary
My internship at the IUI ECHO Center in Indianapolis gives me the chance to work in an academic setting focused on helping underserved communities. As an intern, part of my work involves helping with various tasks, like preparing pre/post materials for said Zoom sessions or working on projects that are assigned to me. In addition to learning about healthcare practices, interns may assist with research and creating reports or presentations about healthcare issues.
At my table, visitors will gain insight into the daily responsibilities of an intern, showcasing the various tasks we manage on a day-to-day basis. There will be examples of the projects I have contributed to during my time at the IUI ECHO Center, highlighting how these efforts align with and support the center's overarching mission.
Workplace
Workplace
Some key skills and strengths I bring to my internship include computer literacy, particularly with Excel and SharePoint, as much of my work involves using these tools. Having taken a course last semester about Excel has given me an advantage in this area and has helped me become more efficient. Another strength is active listening, which has been crucial as I continue to learn and adapt to new tasks in my workplace. I've witnessed a strong culture of collaboration among my co-workers, and this has helped me understand the value of teamwork to achieve common goals.
As a first-year intern, I have grown a lot over the course of the year. I transitioned from someone who did more of the grunt work to someone who now handles all pre- and post-session work for our Zoom sessions. Early on, I was still learning and getting used to the tasks at hand, but as I became more familiar with the work and demonstrated reliability, I was given more responsibilities. My contributions—whether through managing attendance or making sure all materials are ready for sessions—have helped the Zoom sessions run smoothly and supported the overall efficiency of our organization.
Looking ahead, I want to continue growing by taking on even more initiative and becoming more confident in leading certain aspects of our work. I also hope to deepen my skills with tools like Excel and SharePoint, especially in areas like data analysis and document management. Overall, I’m proud of the progress I’ve made this year and excited to keep learning and growing in this role.
Successes and Challenges
Successes and Challenges
One of my initial successes as an intern occurred when I successfully managed attendance for a Zoom session independently, without requiring assistance from any second-year interns. Although I had only performed the task once or twice prior and received guidance previously, I was able to complete it accurately on my third attempt. This achievement marked a significant milestone in my ability to perform tasks autonomously. From this experience, I learned how valuable it is to take initiative and trust myself to handle responsibilities, even if I’m still building experience. This has shown me that learning by doing can be just as impactful as being guided through a process.
My second success was being invited to participate in a marketing meeting by the Marketing & Communications Specialist. I believe my proactive engagement in employee meetings, where I asked questions regarding social media and other marketing-related topics, may have contributed to this invitation. Since then, I have been attending these meetings to expand my knowledge of marketing practices and strategies. What I’ve learned through this experience is that curiosity and speaking up can open doors. I now see how important it is to stay engaged and show interest in areas beyond my immediate tasks, which will help me continue building professional relationships.
Since I've been working at the IUI ECHO Center, I have been given a lot more responsibility for the programs that I am involved in. I will say this is the biggest success that I could achieve. I had always been involved in the pre/post session work that was involved, but I was only ever given maybe one or two of the tasks, and the second-year interns did the rest of the heavy lifting. But recently I was given the privilege to handle all of the tasks for the InRoc program. Now I still have the help of the second-year interns as well as my program managers, but with the help of the SOPs resources and my other first-year intern co-workers, I have gotten a routine down pat for these tasks. From this, I’ve learned how to balance independence with collaboration and how to manage a workflow from start to finish.
One of the more complicated aspects of this semester has been navigating the process of completing certain tasks. For example, managing attendance involves multiple steps and requires the use of several different programs, which can make the process more difficult than expected. I believe there may be an opportunity to streamline some of these tasks for greater efficiency. What I’ve learned here is that every complex task can be broken down with the right system in place, and identifying ways to improve processes is a valuable skill. I want to carry this mindset into future academic assignments and internships—looking for ways to work smarter, not just harder.
My second challenge this semester has been finding the time to attend ECHO sessions. Due to the overlap between my class schedule and Zoom sessions, I have not been able to attend any. To solve this, I have already made adjustments to my spring schedule to ensure that I am available during some Zoom sessions, allowing me to take full advantage of these valuable learning opportunities. This experience has taught me the importance of time management and planning ahead. I now realize that setting priorities and organizing my schedule around them is a critical skill that will help me succeed in both college and in my future career.
My challenges have stayed near the same, but I would say that because I have more tasks on my hands and have been outside of the office for a while because of construction going on, it has made it hard to get some tasks done in a manner that wasn't difficult for me. One way my team at work has helped me overcome this obstacle is by allowing us to still have access to the floor and our desk for when we need to use our desktop laptops. This has helped me be able to finish tasks quicker and at a pace I can set. From this, I learned how much a supportive team environment can make a difference when facing challenges. I’ve also learned how to adapt to change, which I know will be essential as I move into new academic settings and eventually into the workforce, where flexibility is key.
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