Rasika welcomes second-year Master of Health Administration students AnnaVay and Jashanjot to discuss their summer internship experiences and the valuable opportunities they provide for learning, networking, and professional growth.

Lauren Lavin:

Hello everybody. Welcome back to From the Front Row. This is Lauren. And we know that internship season is right around the corner, so I thought it would be kind of fun to do an episode with some of the Masters of Health Administration students that had summer internships. They gave some advice and also just talked about generally what an internship looks like for this particular degree path. So we hope you enjoy the episode and that it gives you some things to think about as you’re heading into your own internship season if you’re a student as well.

Rasika Mukkamala:

I’m Rasika Mukkamala. And if it’s your first time with us, welcome. We’re a student run podcast that talks about major issues in public health and how they’re relevant to anyone, both in and outside the field of public health. Today on the show we have Jashan and AnnaVay, two second year MHA candidates here to talk about their experience with their summer internships. Welcome to the show, Jashan and AnnaVay.

AnnaVay Ellingsworth:

Thank you.

Jashanjot Gill:

Thank you Rasika.

Rasika Mukkamala:

So the first question that I have for both of you is if you can talk a little bit about where your internship was and what you were hoping to get out of your internship, and if you achieved those goals.

AnnaVay Ellingsworth:

I can start. So this is AnnaVay and I did my internship at Ohio Health in Columbus, Ohio. And they’re a 14-hospital system all throughout Ohio, a lot in central Ohio, and they’re growing. And I did my internship. There were six of us, so it was a cohort model and mine was in the corporate HR, human resource department. I worked under Sarah Craig, the director of shared services.

One thing I was hoping to get out of this internship was I just really wanted to gain some real world experience in healthcare administration, more specifically at a corporate level within a multi-hospital system. And my goal was really to be able to apply some of the knowledge and skills that I’ve acquired both in undergrad and graduate school, as well as from some of my previous internship experiences to more real world practical situations.

And another goal was that I was really hoping to understand the complexities of corporate level operations and how they contribute to the overall healthcare delivery. I was really excited just to learn about system level initiatives and how they’re implemented and are trickled down into diverse care sites. And I got all of that and more out of my internship. It was just a really great experience both at the system and at different care sites.

Rasika Mukkamala:

That’s great. Jashan, do you want to tell us a little bit about your experience?

Jashanjot Gill:

Yeah, I’d be happy to. Thanks for starting AnnaVay. So my name is Jashan. I’m also second year MHA at the University of Iowa. I did my internship in ambulatory care operations at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, meaning I was in the outpatient space. And so one of the things I wanted to get from my internship is learning more about outpatient because while I had worked in inpatient, I didn’t interact much with the clinics on campus. And so there were two main things I’d hoped to get from my internship experience. Aside from good preceptorships, I wanted to get some project experience, I wanted to own some projects but also learn something new. So I got to do that through a data analysis and operationalization project. And then the second thing I wanted to do was get health system exposure and learn how different departments intersect and work together.

So to do that, I got to do some routing series, so with nutrition, food and safety pharmacy. And then I also got to schedule a bunch of observations both in the outpatient clinics as well as the OR and in the ED. And so I couldn’t have asked for a better internship. I thought I got great exposure. And so that was a little bit about my experience.

Rasika Mukkamala:

That’s great. I’ll just add about my experience. So I was at UCHealth Highlands Ranch this summer, which is a community hospital that is part of a larger system, and I had a rotation based internship. So I completed rotations across various support services, kind of like Jashan said with food and nutrition, EVS, facilities. And I also shadowed in on many of the floors like I’ll be in labor and delivery mom, baby, the acute care and ICU. I think for me this was the perfect fit because it was fast-paced and I balanced the rotations and the project.

So I think for some of our listeners that are looking for internships, I think it’s really important for you to ask what type of internship is it? Is it a project-based internship? Is a rotation based internship? If it’s not rotation based and it’s project-based, do you have the opportunity to shadow? I think getting these experiences is crucial to getting a full learning experience. I think one of the things that a lot of people don’t realize is once you get to your internship, there’s a lot of things that kind of pop up. So my next question for AnnaVay and Jashan is, what is one thing that you didn’t expect during your internship?

AnnaVay Ellingsworth:

I can maybe start that one off again. So before accepting my internship, I did a ton of research on Ohio Health, and I knew going into it that their mission was to improve the health of those we served and that they had five values, compassion, excellence, inclusion, integrity and stewardship. But what really surprised me was how they were really able to transform those mission and values into a really powerful culture. There were numerous occasions where I was a part of or observed decisions being weighed with the mission and values in mind. I also had exposure with many different teams at many different levels.

And the one thing that I saw in common was they all really lived out Ohio Health’s mission, vision, and values. And it really made a difference to the culture, the way people showed up to work, the way people interacted with each other, and then the way decisions and actions were being made with the patient and associate or employee in mind. And one more specific example of how they really carried out these values is their commitment to ensuring a diverse leadership force. I was surrounded by many diverse mentors and leaders who provided me with so many different perspectives, insights, and advice that I would never have been able to get in a more of a homogenous environment. And that really made a difference to both my personal and professional growth, and it really made the internship for me.

So I think if you’re listening and are trying to decide where to pursue an internship, one question that I know a lot of members in my cohort ask is, the current fellows or whoever you’re interviewing with is how they see their mission being lived out on a day-to-day basis. And then also one question I really like is, if you’re going to leave the organization tomorrow, what piece of the culture would you take and what piece of the culture would you leave? And I think that that just says a lot about a culture and how your experience at that organization will be.

Rasika Mukkamala:

That’s great advice. And I think it’s crucial for people listening if you’re looking for an internship or if you’re looking for a job, sometimes it’s difficult to know what kinds of questions to ask and what to look for. And also, especially as young careerists, it’s difficult sometimes to know what you don’t know until you get there. So I think from my perspective, the one thing that I didn’t expect was all of the day-to-day operations, sometimes it feels mundane when you’re in it, but it really is crucial to the operations of the hospital that everything go well. It’s when it doesn’t go well or there’s some sort of event or occurrence that it disturbs your day-to-day operations, and you kind of look back and you think, “Oh my gosh, that was so stressful.” And when you have great day-to-day operations, things are smooth. So I think in a high paced, fast-paced environment, it is sometimes when you have a couple of days where everything’s just going smoothly, I think a lot of us feel sometimes, “Oh, this is boring, but it’s not boring. It’s what it’s supposed to be like.”

So I think that’s one thing I didn’t expect was just how I would feel in a 12-week internship to experience both the lows and the highs and to experience that alongside leaders was just really impactful. But Jashan, I’d love to hear about your experience too.

Jashanjot Gill:

Yeah, so I’ll take a slightly different route, but I do agree with you. That’s one of those things you can only learn during the experience. So I would say one thing that I didn’t necessarily expect but was prepared for since this wasn’t necessarily my first internship, was just offering ideas while I was sitting in meetings. I was always ready. And so when my time came to share, I was very comfortable at doing it. And over time, I’ve gotten really good at formulating my thoughts, questions, and possible solutions. But I guess a piece of advice even would be that if you’re someone doing an internship and you aren’t naturally there yet, I’d be very cognizant of that going into the internship. You could just in the moment be asked to share your ideas and your thoughts, it’d be really good to continue following along with conversations and formulating your own perspectives on situations or meetings or setting up.

Rasika Mukkamala:

That’s great. So I’ll ask one last question before we ask the question that we ask all of our guests. I know we’ve kind of sprinkled in some advice throughout this, but is there any specific advice that you haven’t mentioned that you’d like to tell our listeners for when they’re applying for jobs or internships or any nuggets of advice that you’ve got and that have been really helpful?

AnnaVay Ellingsworth:

I think maybe just speaking to my most recent internship experience and Jashan, and I think your advice that you just gave about being ready to and comfortable giving your thoughts is also great advice. But what I was going to say is just don’t be afraid to take a risk. All of my background really has been in clinical operations. So one, I was going to Columbus, Ohio where I had never been before. And two, I’ve never done system level operations. And I had a great experience. I learned so much. I didn’t know so many things, and I was so scared, but I had just a great experience. So I would really just say, dive into the scary things and really just lean into it and make the most of it. It’s okay being away from home. It’s okay not being the person at the table that knows the most information about a specific topic, and that’s just really how you’ll learn the most and get the most connections.

Rasika Mukkamala:

Yeah, that’s perfect. Jashan, do you have anything to add?

Jashanjot Gill:

I do. AnnaVay, that’s great advice. I’d give two pieces of advice. The first would be ask questions early. I think as someone new to the organization, especially when you’re really getting into your projects, you’ll find that you’re often missing pieces of information because you weren’t there prior to your time. And so if you have a question ask, most questions they’re not fully questions. And I know I found myself doing that a lot and had I just asked questions a little sooner than I did during my internship because 10 weeks really do fly by, I think I could have made a lot more progress on my projects quicker.

And then my second would be, and I know this is very common advice, but really do reach out to people and cold email them. I find people to be very receptive, and I enjoyed all my coffee chats and putting yourself out there could even result in getting a project… or getting to participate in a new observation or project. That’s always a great learning experience so…

Rasika Mukkamala:

Yeah, that’s great advice. I think the only advice that I would add is to provide everyone with what you might be interested in and don’t be afraid to speak up. An example that I’ll give for my internship is that I have an interest in human resources and clinic operations. So when I introduced myself to everyone, I said, “Hi, I’m Rasika. I’m from the University of Iowa and I am doing my internship here this summer. My interests are in human resources and clinic operations. If anyone has any projects, stores hiring anyone, I’d love to sit in on those.” And people were really receptive to my interest, especially because I think human resources is sometimes people are surprised that I have interest in it, but they love to have help.

And so if they know what you’re interested in or if you’re open to multiple things, they’re more willing to tailor projects to your interests and also be open to taking projects that maybe aren’t in your interest. But I always think it’s helpful for people to know where you’re coming from so that they can also strengthen your portfolio of projects and help you help them. The last question that I will ask is something that we ask all of our podcast guests. What is one thing you thought you knew but were later wrong about?

AnnaVay Ellingsworth:

Okay, so I’m going to answer this question again in terms of my internship. So one area where I had a misconception was regarding the pace of decision-making and change within a healthcare system. So I initially thought that larger healthcare organizations might be slow to adapt and implement new processes or technologies due to their size and complexity. And I was really pleasantly surprised to see how quickly Ohio Health responded to emerging healthcare trends and their patient needs.

So just for example, in June, Ohio Health announced an innovative partnership. It’s a joint investment with Columbus State that’s totaling at least $120 million that will double the number of professionals trained in five different healthcare fields so they can address a critical need for patient care specialists and to really focus on strengthening their talent pipeline and really leaning into we see the trend of really needing to strengthen our healthcare workforce and support these people. So I think that’s one thing that I was surprised and wrong about going into and leaving my internship.

Rasika Mukkamala:

Thanks for sharing. Jashan?

Jashanjot Gill:

As I mentioned, when I started my internship focused on working with the outpatient clinics. So I would say that I was wrong in the sense that I was a bit oblivious to this, but I learned during my internship that outpatient and inpatient departments work a lot more closely than I thought. I thought they would be more siloed, but that wasn’t true. And so they actually have much stronger relationships than you think in operations in one, often affect operations in the other. And so crossing efficiency projects would include working with both of them. And so I’d say that’s something I was wrong about and learn during my experience.

Rasika Mukkamala:

Yeah. I’ll wrap things up. I think the thing that I think about when I think about this question in terms of my internship was I thought I knew how the hospital operated. I thought looking from the outside, you could understand all the operations, but that’s one thing I was wrong about.

There’s so many intricacies that are different at every hospital, even within the same system, whether that’s who your house supervisor is, how your units are run, the culture, it’s so different. And the only way to really understand the culture and how hospitals run is to just jump in headfirst. And I think at first I was really scared and nervous about where was I going to fit in this hospital. I’m an intern, and I think embracing the scaredness and being uncomfortable is the first thing that I could do. And I was able to learn so much about how hospital operations, and I’m so grateful for my experience, and I think it is important to realize that there is more to hospital administration and healthcare administration than just what the eye shows. So I’d like to thank Jashan and AnnaVay for being on the show.

Jashanjot Gill:

Thanks for having us.

AnnaVay Ellingsworth:

Thank you.

Lauren Lavin:

That’s all for our episode this week. Big thank you to both Jashan and AnnaVay for joining Rasika today. This episode was hosted and written by Rasika Mukkamala and edited and produced by Lauren Lavin. You can learn more about the University of Iowa College of Public Health on Facebook. Our podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to help support the podcast, please share it with your colleagues, friends, or anyone interested in public health. Have a suggestion for our team? You can reach us at cph-gradambassador@uiowa.edu. This episode is brought to you by the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Until next week, stay healthy, stay curious, and take care.