My Internship

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Elevator Pitch Slide.pdf

Last year, I worked with the administrative team at the Indiana CTSI Clinical Research Center (CRC) at University Hospital. The CRC is a unit within the hospital that provides quality clinical research services and facilities for both federal and industry-funded studies. This includes nursing services and extensive nutrition services as well as fully functioning hospital rooms for both outpatient visits and inpatient overnight stays. To date, the Indiana CTSI has assisted over 5,000 researchers and 100,000 patients in improving Indiana's health care system. (For more information see below.)

As a student intern, I assisted with various tasks essential to the system that provides for the medical and pharmaceutical breakthroughs founded in clinical research. My job was to provide an extra set of hands and pair of eyes in the administrative duties to ensure they were completed correctly and in a timely manner. This included double-checking and updating new protocol submissions and monthly metrics, assisting with billing processes and data entry. I also supported the clinical team by performing QC checks in the lab and scanning source documents to e-folders. A full list of tasks can be found under "Acquired Skills & Knowledge/Completed Tasks" below.

Why Here?

I chose this site due to its unique opportunity for both administrative and clinical work. Here, I was able to sharpen my professional and administrative skills in an environment where I also have the opportunity to interact with nursing staff, physicians, and researchers to broaden my understanding of what goes into clinical research!

I'm very thankful to have had the opportunity to work with the CRC team, and have learned lots from them about the various aspects of clinical research! This was my first time being in an administrative setting. I made it my goal to be observant and involved in every aspect that I could to get a better feel for the position and better assist with the tasks delegated to me. I've learned to quickly pick up daily tasks such protocol review, and with my eagerness to learn I quickly familiarized myself with other responsibilities as they arose. I believe that the experiences and exposure gained as a result of this internship have helped me to improve my professional skills (especially professional communication skills). It has also expanded my appreciation for the medical field, which I will carry forward into my physician assistant years.

Accomplishments:

Acquired Skills & Knowledge/ Completed Tasks:

Administrative Support

    • Familiarized myself with CRC layout and staff

    • Entered new protocol submissions data into the active protocol list and reviewed to ensure information was correct

    • Entered, double checked, and updated monthly metrics and 2019 annual metrics for the NIH Annual Report

    • Updated activity metrics, collated documents, and prepared conference room for monthly meetings

    • Observed billing and refunding processes within the CORES system

    • Observed how to call for room cleaning services for study rooms

    • Observed patient clock in/out procedure for studies

    • Observed WebCamp utilization for record pulling

    • Filed billing information

    • Added quarterly study visit activity to the active protocol list

    • Revised list of active PIs using the CRC for the 3rd quarter and 2019 NIH Annual Report

    • Observed and practiced professional emailing style/format

Clinical Support

    • Scanned in source documents

    • Restocked supplies and forms at the nurses’ station

    • Labeled and restocked laboratory bags, port kits

    • Restocked and sanitized phlebotomy totes and accu-check machines

    • Performed weekly QCs on urinalysis strips in the lab

Professionals/ Institutions Shadowed:

  • Observed an Alzheimer's clinical research study at the CRC Goodman Hall location

  • Met with CRC Nutrition Manager to learn & understand clinical research studies that have a nutritional research component

Certifications Completed:

  • CITI Training

  • SOP Review

  • Compliance Training

  • Sexual Misconduct Training

  • Laboratory Safety Training

  • Bloodborne Pathogen Training for Clinical Research

  • Biosafety Training

  • Mobile Device Safety Training

  • Basic HIPAA Training

"Great Expectations":

Expectation:

Starting in on this internship, I had a few expectations:

#1: I expected to learn something new about clinical research from an administrative standpoint.

#2: I expected to meet and connect with people of different professions.

#3: I expected to be working with A LOT of paperwork.

Reality:

Here's how it actually panned out:

#1. True: Administrative work has (unfortunately) tended to be blown off by a lot of people, but now I understand that what administrators do is a HUGE part of what allows the PIs and physicians in clinical research to do what they do.

#2. True: While the PIs and techs are very busy people, if you plan your schedule quite right, you can catch them on lunch breaks! There are 3 PIs that I have the blessing to get to see and speak with regularly, and I always make a point of saying hello to all the nurses at the station as I come in. I've also befriended some of the other administrators, as well as one of the techs.

#3. True: A typical day at the office for me looks like updating various records and filing papers for hours at a time.

Surprises:

A. The holiday celebrations: There is a lot of decorating that goes on in an office. If there's a holiday, there is an office party (no, not the show).

B. How much I'd like it: Normally I don't like working with a lot of paperwork, but I quite love my position here! It's refreshing to get to see an actual visual of all that can be accomplished in a day, and the team is amazing.

C. Becoming a project manager: I wasn't expecting to be put on a project that would push me outside of what I like to call my "comfort bubble". I've learned a great deal about community engagement compared to where I started.

D. Job and job shadowing prospects: One morning I went into the lab to do my weekly QCs, and was pleasantly surprised when I was approached by a tech who had been observing my interactions with my coworkers. She told me about her own experience as an LHSI intern offered to let me shadow her and her study!

MEET MY MENTOR

This is my amazing mentor, Sharon Cromer. She has been employed at the CRC for over 33 years and has had at least 18 LHSI interns before me (including Harshpreet, who is now employed at the CRC as well). I am incredibly lucky to get to meet with her on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and observe her role here at the CRC. Thanks to her that I was able to get involved in the All IN for Health Initiative, have the opportunity to shadow with various CRC entities, and learn more about clinical research. While our time together has been cut short due to the pandemic at hand, it's been an amazing year getting to learn under her wing and guidance, and I definitely plan on keeping in touch after this internship has ended.

MORE ABOUT THE INDIANA CTSI:

ESTABLISH

The CRC was founded in 2008 by Anantha Shekhar MD, PhD. and is supported by the NIH. Today, the CTSI works with both private and industry-related sponsors.

CONNECT

The Indiana CTSI has partnered with Notre Dame, IU, and Purdue, as well as Ezkenazi Health, IU Health, and the Richard M. Fairbanks, among others.

IMPACT

Since its establishment, it has been critical in numerous studies from reducing infant mortality in central Indiana to creating rapid screening technology for opioids.

You can check out the videos below to see what other groundbreaking studies the CTSI has been a part of here in Indiana! If you'd like to learn more about the CTSI, All IN for Health, or sign up for a study yourself, see the links to the right!

POSTER PROJECT:

As part of this internship, at the end of the year, interns are asked to present what they've learned via a professional and practiced poster session. For more information on my poster project, you can visit the "Poster Project" page. Due to the virus outbreak, we aren't able to present in-person this year, so I hope you find that this site gives you a complete breakdown of all I've been involved in this year. If you're interested in learning more, feel free to reach out to me with any questions!

OTHER PROJECTS:

Throughout this internship, I collaborated with the CTSI team at our HITS location on the All in for Health program. The goal was to increase engagement of the student population in health studies across the State at all of our collegiate partner campuses (IU, PU, and ND). The plan was to start small here at our IUPUI campus, with aspirations to soon reach out to all of the campuses! This is the first time any project of the kind has been attempted, and it has only just begun. My final part in this project will be to create a deck of resources and discoveries from my time here for the next intern. You can learn more about the importance of this project and its contributions on my "Poster Project" page!

Tasks Completed:

  • Devised plan for student engagement strategies, list of contacts, rough draft of contact email for All IN for Health

  • Created and pitched a presentation of All IN for Health Ideas to the All IN for Health Operations Team

  • Created and organized project related data in a spreadsheet

  • Collaborated on flyer designs

  • Attended weekly meetings to discuss project progress

  • Investigated and implemented methods of program integration into a University student organization

  • Recruited interested students to assist with implementation of student organization

INTERNSHIP TIE-INS:

While the administrative tasks I was involved with at my internship aren't directly tied to my studies as a biology major, the various clinical protocols conducted there do apply to the concepts I am learning in my classes. This has lead me to have a greater appreciation for these courses, as I am able to see firsthand how the material we are learning really does shape the workforce...and people's lives!

#1: Organic Chemistry

When an industry such as Eli Lilly is developing a drug, they are essentially creating some sort of organic molecule designed to interact with specific cells in the body. The goal with the design is to produce a response that we hope will relieve or cure patient ailments. To do so, these industries must keep in mind the composition of the tissues they want to target, and how the functional groups or molecular arrangements of the drug will interact with these tissues, which is an application of organic chemistry. The drugs themselves are typically synthesized using some of the organic reactions students like myself learn in this course.

#2: Genetics

Many of the studies involve taking a look into the medical histories of the patients involved, as genetics can play a big role in possible risks or medical conditions a patient may encounter, as well as affect treatment options.

#3: Medical Humanities

Medical humanities is a course that investigates ethics in relation to medical field practices- something that the CRC applies in the real world via SOP reviews, HIPAA and CITI training, as well as via IRB review of protocols. As part of my honors contract with this course, I worked on a research project that involved interviewing practicing PAs about their experiences and how humanities and ethics courses may have shaped their practice. I have received some very kind complements from some of these contacts on my outreach emails and thoughtful questions- skills I have been learning and improving upon here during my time at the CRC.


JUST FOR FUN...

Being an intern in an administrative office has its perks! I spent a day decorating the conference room for a last day party for one of our team members. Besides decorating, my tasks included allocating the party treats, arranging the tables, and cutting up a watermelon! (How many people can say they did that for their internship? I bet not many!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Holidays!

To wrap up the semester, we were very thankful to have some time to get to have a meal with each other and reflect on our accomplishments throughout the past few months. I helped decorate the entire office, including a couple of Christmas trees... one of which was on the clinical floor!

"Say Cheese!"

Sharon took a 3 week cruise around South America in January, and got to visit the Falkland Islands. Here's Harshpreet and I in the matching penguin hats she brought back for us!

Reflection: On My Time in this Position...

As I have been applying for various patient care technician positions, I will not be continuing at this site. It has been an honor to have had this time here with such an amazing group of people. One of the biggest things I've learned during my time here is the merit in repetition and double-checking one's work. I also became more practiced at taking the failures with the successes, which I did a lot with the All IN for Health Project since project management was a new realm for me. I think we all agree that no one likes to fail (much less fail big), but as the old adage goes "learn from your mistakes" - and this internship was a great way to practice doing just that.


One of the biggest challenges I faced during my time here was that the tasks and responsibilities were all completely new to me. I'd never worked in an administrative setting before, so getting used to the work environment and the responsibilities was a bit uncomfortable at first. Luckily, I had a great team that was patient with me while I navigated the learning curves and provided me a very welcoming environment, so it became almost second nature by the end of the year. Now the most challenging thing will be leaving/ saying goodbye to everyone!


As a team member, I've worked hard to fill in and serve where I can to make the load lighter for everyone else. This looked like picking up some of the smaller duties for the night shift nurse, helping the Operations Manager, Laurie, out with small projects here and there, or working on sections of metrics for Sharon.


I've learned that my greatest strengths lie in my determination to never give up, to get things done (and done well), and lifting others up in encouragement where I can. I've also learned that my passion for learning and desire to serve means I can sometimes jump into projects too quick, and that I need to learn to take a step back and plan everything out first.


I would like to thank my mentor, Sharon, my coworker, Harshpreet, as well as the nurses, Laurie, the PIs, the techs, the LHSI Ambassadors, Nawara, and Brandi for making this internship possible (and awesome). I don't think I could imagine having spent my sophomore year without such an amazing team of people.