My Internship

The main task of my internship is to record and edit the Kids Healthcast, but there is a lot more to this than there may seem. Check out the video below to get an overview of some of the processes involved in this.

Naturally, any podcast needs listeners; another aspect of my job is distributing the podcast, so we can reach people on any podcasting platform. Kids Healthcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere else you can get podcasts. There are also downloadable versions of the episodes and more information about the podcast at kidshealthcast.org. In order to reach an audience, we use social media to advertise our episodes. Kids Healthcast can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Learning and Skills

This internship will help me use the skills I have learned from my communications courses and apply them to the the real world. For example, I will be able to apply my knowledge of group communication as I will be working in a team. This will also benefit me in allowing me to learn how to clearly and accurately communicate information between those from different backgrounds (e.g. medical students to parents). I will also be able to use my existing organization and time management skills when coordinating recording sessions of the podcast as I will have to work around multiple schedules.

This internship has been a great match for what I have learned in both my Communications and English courses. When writing communications for social media or coordinating schedules, it is necessary to analyze the audience for which I am writing. This is something that I have learned how to do in literature courses and now I am able to apply those concepts to work outside of literary analysis. Additionally, this internship has given me the opportunity to apply concepts from my communications courses to the real world. Some course concepts that have been especially helpful are mass media communication, health communication, and group communication. When editing scripts for the podcast, these are all communication concepts that I must take into account and put into practice. This internship also aligns with topics in my policy studies minor. I get to learn about social determinants of health and healthcare advocacy as it relates to policy. For example, I have been able to attend a presentation about juvenile justice through this internship which discussed the juvenile justice system, how it relates to pediatric healthcare, and resources pediatric healthcare workers can provide to patients. This allows me to connect knowledge of the policy system from my courses to the healthcare system and find the best ways to advocate for policy that will affect health and/or healthcare.

More about Fall semester Learning and Skills

This internship has given me invaluable experience as a health communicator. It has taught me what questions to ask when communicating with the public about health. For example, when editing a podcast script, I make sure it aligns with the health communications standard of making sense to someone with an 8th grade science education and no more. This ensures that most everyone will find the content and terminology accessible, which is our main goal as health communicators. The more people who can understand, the better! Not only have I been able to gain hands on experience in the practical application of communication concepts, I have been able to participate in professional development opportunities directed toward health communicators that have helped me learn about ways that I can improve my health communication skills by combating dis/misinformation, ensuring equity in the communication process, and finding the best ways in which to communicate with a particular community.

More about Spring semester Learning and Skills

The Workplace

Since beginning my internship, I have been able to observe professionals from multiple parts of the healthcare system. Across the board, all of these professionals have been very communicative; eager to provide help/assistance, both with work tasks and career development opportunities; and passionate about their work. All of these behaviors are ones I want to emulate in my future career. These behaviors have created a very welcoming environment for newcomers and I'd love to create that environment for someone else!

Professionally, I would like to become better at creating reasonable professional goals and taking steps to accomplish them. Additionally, I would like to develop project management skills that may help me in my future profession. Many of the professionals I've observed are juggling multiple responsibilities and positions in their profession, so I want to learn more time management skills as I may want to pursue multiple paths and interests within my career.

Going into this internship, I expected the main focus of my work to be on the podcast. However, there is an even split between working on the podcast (coordinating schedules, recording, and editing) and participating in career development and other learning opportunities. While working on the podcast is my priority, I am allowed to make room for learning experiences offered by Community Pediatrics, LHSI, and others. This has been really helpful when considering academic and career goals and determining possible career paths. Additionally, I expected to be given a rigid schedule and have to work in the office. However, I am allowed to work remotely and have a flexible schedule. This has been great as it allows me to dedicate the necessary time and ensure my work is done to the best of my ability. This also allows me more room to explore learning opportunities.

Something that surprised me in the day-to-day life of this work was the amount of scheduling necessary to produce the podcast. In addition to the scheduling I have to do as part of my position (recording the podcast, check-in meetings with my supervisor, etc.), I've been able to observe the role scheduling plays in producing media, whether that be social media or posting the podcast. I've realized the importance of keeping a consisted schedule with these posts. Every Wednesday, I post on social media and we have started releasing podcasts on Fridays. This allows our audience to know when they can expect us to provide information and resources.

This experience has allowed me to engage with and learn about how social determinants of health affect the Indianapolis community. I've been able to meet leaders from a multitude of community organizations which has opened my eyes to how individuals' income, race, gender identity, neighborhood, etc. impact access to quality care. This has prompted me to learn more about how cultural and societal identities intersect with access to health information and resources.

The workplace culture at my internship site is communicative, inclusive, flexible, and casual. This is very much in line with my ideal workplace culture. I would like to work in a place where it is easy to communicate and the preferred methods of communication are clear, which has been my experience at my internship site. Additionally, while it is still a professional space, I work better in an environment that is not very formal. For this reason, a more casual workplace that provides opportunity for casual interactions throughout the day would be ideal for me. A flexible workplace that offers a hybrid work-from-home option would also be great. It is a must for me that the workplace be diverse, equitable, and inclusive, especially since I plan to work in public health. This inclusive environment will help me grow in learning about other cultures and identities which is something that is extremely important in health communication. Working with my internship site has helped me gain a better understanding of views of healthcare among different communities.

Successes and Challenges

Successes

• Audio Editing

  • Becoming familiar with audio editing software and finding an editing rhythm that works for me took some time, but I have gotten much better at it and hope to continue using and improving these skills in my career.

• Social media

  • Overtime, I have found our organization's social media voice and have learned how to tailor posts to our audience.

• Networking

  • I have had lots of opportunities to network with health communication professionals and have been able to build valuable relationships.

• Leadership

  • In directing the recording of the podcast, I have become more comfortable in leadership positions.

• Working collaboratively

  • While it was initially a challenge to find a way to split work between myself and my co-worker, we managed to strike a balance. This has been a great learning opportunity for working in teams.

Challenges

• Finding health communication specific professional development opportunities

  • Health communication is a relatively new field, so it has been difficult to find professional development opportunities specific to it. In order to overcome this, I have been participating in more general professional development opportunities, like watching webinars about diversity, equity, and inclusion, and reflecting on how I can look at those concepts through a health communication lens.