My Internship

My internship site is at the Clinical Research Center in University Hospital which offers research administration and skilled nursing support. The Clinical Research Center provide high quality research services in a variety of ways including, lab services, clinic space, and have a proficient nursing staff. They have contributed to a variety of research studies that even include a Covid-19 vaccine. My role at the site is a Student Nurse in which I help the nurses with any tasks they need including sending labs, drawing blood, taking vitals, etc. Additionally, I work with administration to do audits of monthly reports, send correspondence, and learn about how billing works at our unit. My work is important as it adds to the flow of this internship site, while making everyone else's jobs a little easier.

https://indianactsi.org/researchers/services-tools/clinical-research-support/crc/

Project Summary

The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) is one of 60 National Institute for Health (NIH) funded centers that works to aid in enhancing the field of medicine. One of their locations includes the Clinical Research Center at IU Health University Hospital. The CRC supplies high-quality clinical research services and utilities to Indiana’s top research talent. Our facilities include a skilled nursing team, lab processing, and a clinical space and equipment for researchers to use. My role at the CRC includes being a Student Nurse in which I help the nurses with any tasks they need including sending labs, drawing blood, taking vitals, etc. Additionally, I work with administration to do audits of monthly reports, study correspondence, and learn about how billing works in our unit. My project summarizes the various diabetes studies that are conducted here with a special focus on a study that I worked on. The purpose of this study, titled, “Diabetes Related to Acute Pancreatitis and its Mechanisms (DREAM),” is to find out how many people with acute pancreatitis develop diabetes. I plan to utilize this experience and the knowledge I gained for years to come. 

Learning and Skills

I plan to  see the administrative side to healthcare, learn how to communicate collected data, and be involved in patient care support activities to learn more about myself and my future career goals. 

Some skills I would like to gain from this internship is learning how to draw blood. Much of our work is related to taking blood draws, so learning that would be very helpful and relevant as a nurse in the future. I also would like to be able to take vitals all by myself. It is a standard skill in the nursing profession, therefore building that confidence now, would also be beneficial to not only the other nurses, but for myself as well. 

In relation to this internship, I am most excited about getting used to the hospital setting with all the others nurses. I wish to grow as a professional in a hospital as well as become more confident in myself and my skills.

Skills on my self evaluation that I am using so far include teamwork and communication. I ask for help when I need it and always do tasks whenever asked of me. I usually do the simpler tasks in regards to the team, but the simple tasks are still important to get done, therefore I work productively in order to increase the quality of work in group settings. A skill I would like to continue to work on includes independence. While, I am becoming more independent in my tasks, I feel that I do lack some confidence, therefore to grow this skill I will be more confident in my tasks in order to not depend on anyone else. 

This internship has fit in with what I am learning in class by being a direct reflection. In my "Comprehensive Health Assessment" class we have learned how to take vitals and about different diseases, while at this internship I have been able to put what I learn to use. This internship can help me gain a deeper understanding of the coursework as I am a very hands on person myself, therefore just being in a healthcare setting I am able to understand the setting. Throughout this semester as an intern, I have learned a lot especially on how health administration works. I learned how to do an audit, send professional emails, and how the financial aspect works and I think that has been one of my favorite experiences, alongside all the nursing support. 

My contributions impact the mission of my internship site as I do my best to make everyone else's jobs easier. When my supervisor has a busy task that needs to get done, but has higher priorities, I make sure to volunteer myself to assist. Additionally, when my nurses are busy while I have some downtime, I go and see whether or not I could take a task off their hands or whether they could use an extra pair of hands in the patient room. 

The Workplace

A behavior and action that I have seen in my workplace that I want to have as a professional and teammate includes confident communication. When talking to each other, I have seen the nurses be confident and communicate well, even when they are asking for assistance. I hope to get to their level and be able to be independent as well. Additionally, I have yet to draw blood, therefore that is also an action I wish to learn as I believe it will help me grow as a professional and teammate while making me that much more useful and helpful in the work environment. 

While working with and learning from my teammates, I have learned how fast paced healthcare is. Someone will randomly need a task done or something sent to the lab and you always need to be on your toes. Additionally, for the healthcare administration aspect, I learned that there's a lot of dependence on others. Each person has their own individual tasks to complete therefore you will have to wait for them before continuing. 

Throughout my time at this internship site, I have learned a lot from the people I work with. Majority of the nurses I work with are mothers and older than I am, so at times there may be a lack of things we can relate to with one another. However, I have been impacted by them by gaining new interests and listening to their attitudes and beliefs in order to gain something to bond over and understand them better. While I feel that I have been able to build those relationships and behave more professionally, I wish to continue to grow and understand the professional standards in which I am held to. Every environment is different and I plan to adapt in order to be the best professional I can. 

I would describe the workplace culture and values of my internship as caring and effective. Everyone on this site works hard in order to complete their tasks in an effective manner while also providing good care to the patients and each other. My ideal workplace culture would be exactly this. I like when there's moments of business, while also having moments of calm with coworkers who care about their work, their patients, and the employees they work with. 

Successes and Challenges 

Throughout this internship I noticed that I usually feel successful when I receive positive feedback. I want to be useful, therefore if it is a task such as picking up a drug or sending to lab, if it can allow more time for the nurses to be able to rest or do a more important task, I feel successful. A "thank you" or a "you've been very helpful today" makes me elated. On the other hand one of the most challenging parts of my internship was when there is no task to be done. I used to wait on standby until something is asked of me, when I felt like I could be doing more. Throughout the year I have been improving and making use of the free time I have by working on LHSI related projects, checking if anything needs restocking, or completing other tasks that have a later due date. This improvement has taught me that if there is ever a challenge, there is always a solution. You will never be stuck in an awkward position unless you put yourself in that spot. Additionally, the team I work with helped me overcome these obstacles by putting me to a task whenever they see that I am available as well as allowing me to keep gaining new skills in order to be of assistance.