MY INTERNSHIP
What is the Center for Public Health Practice?
The Center (or CPHP) coordinates projects as collaborative efforts between the Fairbanks School of Public Health (FSPH) and the surrounding community of students, health professionals, and citizens to improve public health practices. Established to be a resource hub and promote best-practice public health efforts, the Center functions as a “convener” for central Indiana and communities around the state.
The Center has built a large network of health professionals, educators, students, and charitable organizations that work together to promote public health practice on campus, in the city, and throughout the state. Several ongoing and new projects that support these efforts, including the ones I worked on during the school year, include the Public Health Corps, a service-oriented student organization that supports local public health endeavors; the Extensions for Community Health Outcomes (ECHO) Project, a telementoring interprofessional development program for healthcare providers; a Drug Take Back event to collect and safely discard unused and expired prescriptions; survey analysis of poverty simulations for students and professionals alike; and coordination of the Indiana State Association for City and County Health Officials.
MY ROLE
My contributions at the site included support of several projects, such as data entry, organization, and analysis of ECHO attendance; research on various health topics like substance use disorders and HIV; analysis of survey results from poverty simulations; assistance with coordinating INSACCHO activities; and review of topics covered during ECHO sessions.
From this internship, I set out to learn more about public health, gain professional and networking skills, and obtain experience in the health-related field. This experience not only helped me build professional skills and learn about the field, but it also helped me develop skills related to creative problem-solving and critical thinking as I completed various tasks independently, often involving the organization and synthesis of information for future reference and analysis.
I chose this site because I saw the connections between public health, advocacy and outreach, and I was drawn by the concerted effort to make a difference and improve the health of individuals and communities at large through the variety of projects. I was also curious about how the public health field might connect to my personal career goals.
MY BIGGEST CHALLENGE
The biggest challenge I faced was navigating the freedom and flexibility to work on any project of my choosing. After spring break, this became an even larger challenge as I finished the semester working and going to school from home. With respect to both challenges, communication with my supervisors and honesty about what was or wasn't in my immediate capacity greatly reduced the amount of stress I felt from balancing work and school. My supervisors were incredibly helpful and accommodating to my skills, experiences, and interests, so I was able to continue my contributions to my site's work in a way that I could manage.
MY STRENGTHS
I expected to be successful at most endeavors that require some extent of organization and planning. I can be very detail-oriented, so I was excited about the opportunity to use those skills to help push some of the CPHP's projects forward. In addition to that, my drive and positive attitude to helped me confront the challenges I faced as the semester went on.
During my internship, I developed my communication skills. I'd always believed that communication was one of strengths, but I found that I actually had a lot to learn about its application in a professional setting.
CONNECTION BETWEEN WORK AND SCHOOL
From the beginning my internship, there have been a lot of connections between my classes and my internship. During the fall semester, my health communication and medical humanities classes were especially relevant to work in public health. At my internship, I saw how social determinants of health and health campaigns play out in real life and within the realm of public health beyond readings and lectures. In covering historical perspectives and origins of public health in class, I was able to recognize how that history is reflected in how public health organizations and programs operate today.
During the spring semester, I was enrolled in a medical humanities topic class on motherhood, a sociology course on the organization of health care, and an argumentative writing course. The portfolios I've been assigned in my English course involve very applicable skills to professional writing and work at my internship, such as literature review, source evaluation, and proposal writing. In my sociology course, I've learned about the way healthcare systems are organized, which I frequently see in the way the healthcare professionals I encounter in some of my site's projects navigate delivery of care. Even my topics class, which largely examines motherhood and illness through the humanities, is reflected in the current issues of maternal health faced by Indiana's public health sphere.
AFTER A SEMESTER: EXPECTATIONS VS. REALITY
I came into my internship not really knowing what to expect. With limited work experience and not much to inform me besides what I learned during the interviewing process, I was really just waiting for someone to tell me what to do. My supervisors did just that in the very beginning. However, after the initial orientation and first few weeks, I was unsure of what to do with all the freedom I was granted to work on projects and assignments. Slowly, I started to really get the hang of working independently. On a day-to-day basis, I don't check in as frequently as I did in the very beginning, though I stay updated on my supervisors' expectations and follow up on some tasks as necessary.
Working from home, however, is an entirely different experience that I wasn't expecting to have so early in my professional career. It's made me appreciate the setting I was in before, and moving forward I have a better idea of the kind of work environment best suits me.
REFLECTIONS
I learned a lot about myself through this internship over the course of the year. I really enjoy the healthcare field, especially through the policy and public health lens. I've gotten better at applying the things I learn in my courses to the assignments I get, and my thinking has broadened to better evaluate and incorporate the bigger picture. I've learned much about project management and organization as well, and I developed some of these skills through the work at the Center.
I look back and see that I didn't take as many opportunities to really do as much as I could as a team member. Though a lot of my assignments were just as effectively done independently, I see that I probably could have engaged more with my fellow interns and supervisors. I definitely pulled my weight when it came to collaborative effort, but I think I could done better to actively collaborate. I plan on moving forward with this experience to hopefully become a better team member in the future.
Fortunately, I will be moving ahead and continuing work at my internship site through the summer. After this transition period to working from home, I am looking forward to applying what I've gained throughout the year to the rest of my time with the Center.