Summer Internship: Rashelle Ludolph

Hello Everyone!

My name is Rashelle Ludolph and I am a joint MHA/MBA student in between my second and third years of graduate school. Last summer I interned at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics with Ambulatory Care Services, the department I work in as a graduate assistant during the academic year. Knowing the importance of broadening one’s experiences, I sought a summer internship for this summer at a different type of organization.

I am currently the intern at Unity Hospital in Fridley, MN, which is just north of Minneapolis. Unity is a community hospital with a little over 200 beds. As part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, Unity provides both a great experience working in a community hospital as well as exposure to being part of a larger system.

My preceptor, Lori Wightman, was previously the President of New Ulm Medical Center (also part of the Allina system) and has taken an Iowa MHA student for over 6 years. Lori has done a great job of assigning me interesting and challenging projects as well as allowing me to attend meetings with her for exposure to upper level management.

I started my first week at Unity with one-on-one meetings with many of our directors. These meetings helped me gain an overall understanding of what the key initiatives are at Unity and to learn about the ongoing, day-to-day operations. Following that first week I was assigned a few projects and have continued to pick up additional projects throughout the summer. To highlight a few, I am working on:
• Analysis of ED frequent users, which I will soon present to our senior leadership team
• Facilitation of a patient call light study on 3 inpatient units
• Projection of OR and Oncology volumes
• Development of recommendations for future OR remodel/redesign
• Optimization of the surgical instrument tracking system

One of the greatest things about my summer so far has been the ability to observe different areas of the hospital. So far I have spent a few days in the OR observing the entire process of admitting, pre-op, post-op and I even scrubbed in on a few surgeries. I spent a day in our Bariatric Center observing patient visits and learning more about weight loss surgery- very interesting! This Saturday night I will be in the ED and in two weeks I’m spending the day with an Administrative Supervisor who handles bed placement for the hospital. This is just a sample of the great things I’ve seen and there are so many awesome learning opportunities to come.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what a great city Minneapolis is to explore. My parents came to visit a few weeks ago and we spent an evening on Lake Minnetonka, went to the Mall of America, attended the Twin Cities Jazz Fest, and spent a night out in downtown Minneapolis. I’ve also visited the Basilica of Saint Mary, met friends for rooftop dinners in Uptown, and enjoyed several runs around Lake Calhoun. My most recent activity was a Minneapolis Twins game with a few fellow MHA students!

I can not believe how fast my time at Unity has gone. This summer is flying by but I look forward to continuing to learn and work on exciting projects and still have a few more “must see” locations to visit before I leave Minneapolis and head back to Iowa City in August.