Capstone Internship
Internship Site:
Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center
Pathways Intern: Administrative
My internship took place at Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center (RLCVAMC), which is marketed to patients and caregivers as Veteran Health Indiana (VHI). All VA medical facilities are a component of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The mission of the VA is to fulfill President Lincoln's promise, "To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan" by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's veterans.
After I was hired as an intern, I was placed in the Property Section under the Engineering Department to help with administrative duties concerning the off-site clinics.
Primary Responsibilities/Projects
During my time at RLRVAMC, I worked with the Property Section which consisted of my supervisor, a senior project manager, and two program analysts. My primary responsibilities included assistance in project management, visits to outpatient clinics, and collaboration with third-party vendors.
Due to each clinic having various projects being completed at once, I created a project tracker that the team would review twice a week to determine what progress has been made on certain projects. Along with outpatient clinic projects, I assisted with leasing documents and market research. Additionally, I would travel to the outpatient clinics for furniture installations, quality assurance surveillance plans, and decommissioning of old clinics. A large part of my work with the property section was reaching out to third-party vendors about status updates on the purchases that were made for specific clinics.
Learning Objectives
At the beginning of my internship, I set specific learning objectives that align with the HSM competencies. These learning objectives include: apply academic concepts to my practical work setting, improve my professional communication skills, work collaboratively with other department and third-party vendors, and become more familiar with different types of software.
I believe my internship has allowed for exposure in each of these learning objectives. Every day I am progressing toward accomplishing these learning objectives through administrative tasks.
Personal Development
Prior to this internship, I had no knowledge of leasing, medical facility construction, and ordering of medical equipment. Additionally, I had no experience or exposure to how public healthcare entities are run. Through my internship, I gained valuable knowledge on all fronts because I was working with leasing documents, conducting market research on medical equipment and medical facilities, and learning what goes into the construction of healthcare facilities.
However, my personal development does not stop there because I acquired skills that I will be able to apply to my future career. I further developed my verbal and written communication skills because I had to properly convey messages to other hospital departments, off-site managers, and third-party vendors. Also, the VA provided classes in order for me to gain new skills such as developing new project trackers for our service.
One of the areas I would like to improve upon in my professional life is being more assertive and confident in my work. When I first started my internship, I was not very good at speaking to people over the phone; however, after making multiple phone calls a day, I became more confident about how to speak to third-party vendors.
Most importantly, this internship has helped me shape my interests and guide my next steps.
Academic Connections
Throughout my time at the VA, I found many parallels between my course work and the projects I was completing for the Property Team. I believe the courses I completed for my major allowed me to excel in my internship position. Some of the courses that helped me the most through my internship were healthcare financing, hard conversations and negotiations, health information and technology, strategic planning, and medical group management. Additionally, through one of our courses, we had to complete an Excel Certification, which proved very useful. These classes created a strong foundation for me to stand on because I was able to view healthcare from a different lens before stepping into the different roles we talked about in class. Overall, everything I learned from the Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI prepared me for the real world, and I will continue to build upon this foundation of knowledge.