Daily Archives: February 25, 2016

Africa Study Abroad Internship Profile (Ashton)

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers a summer study abroad program that incorporates academic excellence with social change. Overall, this opportunity offers classes for students to take with UNC professors while he or she can simultaneously intern with varying organizations that aim to improve social and demographic atmospheres.

In regards to the background on this program, this study abroad internship will take place during the fall session of the 2016-2017 school year in Cape Town, Africa. No more than twenty students will be selected to engage in this study abroad opportunity. The process involves an application and a series of essays portraying one’s passion for social work. Over the course of the term, students will be placed into two separate internships, ranging from social work in elementary schools to social work in world-class hospitals. In terms of social work, students will work with administration in order to provide a safe environment for patients or students. The goal is to create a democratic environment, meaning the students or patients will have a voice in the decisions that affect them. Though this program is technically “honors Carolina,” one can apply even if they are not considered “honors.” Instead the student will simply receive honors credit after completion of the term.

Personally, I have an interest in this program because of the incorporation of the health care system in Cape Town. This characteristic element of the program motivated my interest to apply. I am a current freshman at UNC who is aiming to pursue a degree in Health Policy and Management. Overall, this major will allow an abundance of opportunities regarding job selection. At the same time, I am also Pre Med. This being said, I am hoping to pursue a career either practicing medicine or implementing health care reform.

I feel that I would be a great candidate for this internship because I have a passion for making sure patients receive the proper care that they need, whether this be financially or medically. This internship perfectly incorporates the two needs of patients in an extremely diverse city. Overall, I am confident in the role I could play in this wonderful opportunity.

Doctors Without Borders Internship Profile (Sonya)

           Doctors Without Borders/MSF is an organization dedicated to aiding people worldwide where the need is greatest; workers, volunteers, and interns deliver emergency medical aid to those affected by conflicts, epidemics, disasters, and/or exclusion from health care. One recent campaign operated within the organization, the Access Campaign advocates the importance of international access to essential medicines in the hope of achieving sustainable solutions to reduce price of medicines and to stimulate research on diseases that primarily affect less developed countries.

             Of the many office internships offered, “Access HIV and Tuberculosis Policy Intern” interests me the most. The summer internship starts on May 31 to August 12 and the application is due April 18, 2016. Accepted interns will work 20 hours per week.

             The HIV and TB Access Policy Intern will be supporting the campaign’s activities and enhancing efforts to improve the quality and accessibility of HIV and TB services. Specifically, I will be expected to convene conference calls of working groups and assist with preparation, note taking, and distribution of key documents. Also, I will be drafting letters to policymakers and global health actors and will be assisting the HIV Policy Advisor with conducting research, collecting information, and maintaining a database on essential information related to HIV and TB national policies; assisting the Policy Advisor in convening internal and external meeting and assisting him/her with writing memos will also be a part of my duty. Furthermore, I will be collecting and distributing general information relevant to current Access topics, conferences, advocacy targets, and related NGOs and will be tracking the campaign on media; keeping the calendars of major global health meetings and conferences up to date is also my work. All of these work must be done while providing general administrative support and maintaining a database of key literature and references.

             While the internship does not require any particular academic credentials or any form of post-internship presentation, the office strongly prefers candidates with knowledge and interest in global health, including HIV and TB. Those with a sharp focus on HIV/AIDS and TB policy advocacy and on the disparity of access to crucial health care around the world will find this internship ideal. Only a resume and cover letter are to be submitted via email; letters of recommendation and personal statements are unnecessary and there is no separate application questionnaire.

             Through this internship program, I will gain practical work experience in the field of my interest and will support the organization’s work in various departments of communications, development, program, human resources, etc. Additionally, I will be given a basic yet first-hand introduction to the field of international medical humanitarian aid and advocacy. My knowledge – of global health actors, legislative processes, pharmaceutical research, and limited access and affordability to health care – will advance as well. As I plan on working with a NGO in an underdeveloped country in the future, I find this internship especially helpful.

             However, since a significant number of MSF’s missions are based in French-speaking countries, ability to speak French is highly valued (they say it is “not essential” but “highly desirable”). I think this linguistic standard somewhat limits some candidates from experiencing the whole spectrum of their mission, and Yes, I lack in this aspect.

             All office interns are paid $10 per hour. Even though there are no other costs or fees for participation, I am in charge of my own housing and accommodation in New York City, where the main office is located.

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UNC Administrative Internship Program

The UNC Health Care’s Administrative internship Program (AIP) is completed at the UNC hospital and the mission of AIP is to expose students interested in public health to real life health care experiences and to modern health care delivery practices. The internship lasts exactly 12 weeks and one can start the internship in either May or June. The hours per week were not listed, however this internship is very formal and I think the hours would be the same day and same time every week.

During this internship, I would be involved in different work projects, attend weekly “learning series”, communicate with my mentor, and complete an end of summer presentation. In past years, interns’ projects have focused on topics such as patient relations (patient satisfaction analysis), preparation of a Medicare cost report, and profit/loss analysis and business line development. Through this internship, I will gain an understanding of how a teaching hospital operates by working with different departments in the hospital.

The requirements are that I am an under-grad or grad student, I have completed at least one semester of college, I am legally eligible for employment in the US, and that I have a 3.0 GPA or higher. The application for the internship was online, but the application is no longer available because the internship deadline passed in early January. I believe the application would require at least one letter of recommendation and at least one essay question. However, I recently emailed Administrative.Fellow@unchealth.unc.edu and will find out the specific details of the application process soon.

The strengths of this internship are that it is directly related to my future career path, it is paid, and it could most likely give me an EE credit. The weaknesses are that it is located in Chapel Hill, so I would probably have to commute everyday and that the deadline for the internship already passed. The costs of the internship would mostly come from gas money and parking.

Even with these weaknesses, this internship would be very beneficial. So I plan to apply for the internship next year. This internship occurs at UNC, so I would get to observe a variety of different medical practices at a reputable hospital. Also, I think this internship would look extremely good on my resume, especially since I am considering a career in this field. I am particularly interested in public health and I want to apply to the Gillings School of Public Health next year. I plan on applying to the Biostatistics major at the School of Public Health. Biostatistics involves statistical analysis of large amounts of data. After reviewing topics past interns did projects on, I feel like this job does include some statistical analysis, which is very relevant to my interests. While this job is only an administrative position, I still think it would benefit me since the internship comes in direct contact with public health and public policy.

Emory Healthcare Hospital Summer Internship Program

The internship that I am looking to apply to is the Emory Healthcare Hospital Summer Internship Program. This is a formalized program that has exact guidelines and protocol for how the program is completed. The time commitment for this program is 10-12 weeks in the summer that would begin in early June and continues through mid-August. I would be working full-time during the week through the whole summer.

The main goal of the internship is working on project-based work throughout out the summer that will be formally presented at the end of the summer to the hospitals’ executive leadership team. Other work activities include attending senior leadership meetings and “lunch and learns” with current administrative fellows in order to gain more knowledge and experience about the hospital interactions and systems. Through this internship, I would gain exposure to hospital operations and leadership through the project-based work, and I would also be exposed to the other hospitals within the Atlanta hospital system.

This program has many strengths due to its high credibility at a premier hospital in Atlanta. The resources available to me as an intern would be incredibly invaluable to me as a pre-medical student. I would gain a lot of experience within a hospital setting, and the learning experience would be incredible to put on my resume. The weaknesses to choosing this internship would be the level of competitiveness for being accepted into the internship program. Plus, the hours/time commitment is extensive for the summer internship.

As part of being in the summer internship program, I would be paid. The exact pay per hour would be determined at the beginning of the summer by the Program Manager and Executive Leader. The pay is mainly based on level of education, undergraduate or graduate. The current rate for undergraduates is $10 per hour ($15 per hour for graduate). Housing is not offered as part of this compensation for the internship. However, because I live in Atlanta, this will not be an issue, and I will commute from home every day for the internship.

As for the actual application and requirements, minimal exist actually. The application itself is submitting your current resume in PDF format, a cover letter addressing my interest in healthcare in PDF format, and my undergraduate transcript (can be unofficial) to the Program Manager, Ameenay Khan, through email as listed on the website by February 12th, 2016. I hope to apply for this internship either the summer of 2017 or 2018 because I have already passed the due date for this summer. If I make it to the second round of the application process, then I will go through a phone interview, and I would be notified of my status by April 1st, 2016 (if I could have applied this year). There are no specific academic requirements; however, the website states that the program is “aimed at highly motivated individuals who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate level program and are interested in pursuing a career in health care”.

I would love to hopefully one summer actually do this internship. My plan is to apply next summer in 2017, and if I don’t get in, then I will reapply for the following summer in 2018.

Profile and Evaluation of the Administrative Internship at UNC Hospitals

In order to familiarize students with medical practices and expose them to the atmosphere of modern health care, UNC Health Care offers the opportunity to work as an Administrative Intern at UNC Hospitals in the summer.

The internship lasts the entirety of the summer (12 weeks), starting in late May or early June and ending in late August.  It is considered to be fulltime employment with regular working hours, which I assume would be from 9-5pm five days a week (40 hour work week).

As interns, students will get the opportunity to experience the day-to-day of hospital life, learning job skills as well as the nuances of hospital work.  Interns will work in departments within the UNC hospitals in which they have a specific career interest, performing analytical work and observing clinical procedures for data collection and analysis.  As part of the program, interns will meet with mentors and their fellow interns every week to learn from each other, discussing responses to certain medical scenarios.  Cumulative experiences and data collection in an intern’s specific department will result in an end-of-summer presentation.  This presentation is aimed to report trends observed in health care that can lead to future improvement or development of new research.

To be eligible to apply for the Administrative Internship, students must be currently pursuing or have recently finished a degree in undergraduate or graduate studies, and have completed a minimum of one semester of classes of either of these programs.  Interns are also expected to be of good academic standing, therefore applicants are required to have a cumulative 3.0 GPA or greater.  Being legally eligible for work in the US is a requirement as well, as the internship is considered to be a full-time job.  The application for the internship requires a cover letter, resume and a specific cover sheet available on the application website.

As a pre-med student at Chapel Hill considering the field of emergency medicine, this internship program would be incredibly beneficial to my future career, as it would provide the opportunity for me to gain experiential learning in a hospital setting.  In addition to my enjoying observing the behind-the-scenes of medicine, such an opportunity is invaluable on medical school applications.  The fact that this internship is at UNC Hospitals is also a bonus, as this hospital system is ahead of the game in medical research and patient care and is one of the strongest teaching hospitals in the nation.

As for drawbacks of attending the program, there are few and only consist of financial and logistical issues.  While the internship is paid as if it were a full-time job, room and board, transportation and food is not covered, and so enrolling in the program may not be a financially sound investment.  However, despite these potential minor financial drawbacks, I believe this internship to be a good investment of my time and will by no means pass it over.

 

Keenan Cromshaw profile for internship

I have found a potential volunteer and/or shadowing opportunity at the New Hanover Regional Medical center in my hometown of Wilmington, NC. I still have yet to get a lot more info on these potential opportunities and there could be a chance of getting an internship in the future as I talk more with the hospital administrators. Since I don’t have a lot of info about these volunteer, shadowing, and intern opportunities I will write about what I know and what I’d like in this internship.

In this potential internship, I would be able to work beginning about May 12th until about the second week of August. I could work about 30 hours per week during this time. I would prefer to work in the emergency department performing duties that will help to gain experience and knowledge about emergency department professions. I would also greatly benefit from shadowing doctors, PA’s, and nurses in the hospital in order to gain a better understanding of daily life and the benefits/drawbacks of their professions.

Since the hospital is very close to my home, I will not need to worry about room and board. Money, of course, is preferable, but certainly not a requirement as I just want experience and new knowledge about the medical professions in this internship.