Internship: John Heinemann


I am currently working as a graduate assistant for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.  My work began as an intern this summer and transitioned into my graduate assistant position.  Working for the Children’s Hospital has been a very rewarding experience and has exposed me to a wide variety of projects.  These projects allowed me to apply a wide range of relevant coursework obtained during my first year in the MHA program.

The main project I have been working on is facilities planning for the construction of the new freestanding Children’s Hospital.  The opportunity to be involved in such a project is a very unique opportunity for a graduate student. I have gained valuable experience about the arduous task of building a new hospital.  My preceptor/boss is chair of one of the ten interdisciplinary user groups assembled to provide design a patient- and family-centered Children’s Hospital.  The user groups work directly with the architects to develop programming, design the schematics, and ensure a patient-centered experience for of our patients. I spent a major portion of my time this summer attending meetings and developing benchmarks with our recently constructed children’s hospitals. In addition to meetings, I collaborated with our Family and Youth Advisory Councils to gain valuable feedback on our pediatric programming. The advisory councils provide firsthand experience and are a valuable learning tool for every member of our interdisciplinary team. The facilities programming project has been very fascinating. Doing it for the kids can’t get any sweeter than building a brand new building. 

Along with the facility planning, I have been working on patient satisfaction data for each department in Children and Women’s Services. I have been tasked with developing key driver reports for each unit and analyzing Press-Ganey data to compare against other pediatric institutions. Each unit report consists of key metrics identified by the nurse manager as opportunities for improvement.  The main focus of the project is to transparently display data throughout Children’s and Women’s Services to promote collaboration amongst the various units. Our executive director is very passionate about improving patient satisfaction. Sifting through the mountains of available data seems monotonous and time consuming; however, remembering that our focus is to improve the experience for kids keeps me going. 

Things operate differently in a pediatric hospital and the enthusiastic attitudes are contagious even on a bad day. I am very passionate about my projects and look forward to continuing my work in at a pediatric hospital in the future.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adriana Kotchkoski (MHA '24): Nihon Keiei Consulting Group

Image
Konnichiwa from Japan!   As I sit down to write this blog post, I am filled with a sense of gratitude and accomplishment as I reflect on my time as an intern at Nihon Keiei Consulting Group in Osaka, Japan. This summer has been nothing short of remarkable, offering me a unique blend of professional development and cultural immersion that I will cherish forever.   During my time at Nihon Keiei, I had the opportunity to engage in in-depth research and analysis, creating comprehensive market profiles for the healthcare sectors in the Philippines and India. These profiles laid the foundation for strategic expansion plans, and it was an honor to present my findings and recommendations to a senior consultant during insightful one-on-one meetings. These interactions were not only professionally enriching but also allowed me to witness firsthand how strategic decisions shape the course of an organization's growth.   One of the most rewarding experiences during my internship was the develop
Read more

Kayla Rinderknecht (MPH’24): Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield

Image
Hello from Des Moines, Iowa! This summer, I completed a 12-week internship with Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS). Wellmark Inc. is a mutual health insurance company, with policyholders throughout Iowa and South Dakota. As a market leader, Wellmark’s mission is to make healthcare better and improve the health of the communities that they serve. Throughout the summer, I experienced Wellmark’s positive culture and contributed to its mission.     My Community Health Research Internship was housed under Wellmark’s Division of Health Equity, Access, and Improvement. The division’s strategy is to improve the health of all Iowans and South Dakotans, not just Wellmark’s policyholders. To improve the health of all Iowans and South Dakotans, the division focused on improving community health, addressing health equity, and improving rural health. My project focused on improving community health, in which I analyzed community data for Iowa and South Dakota, conducted evidence-based research,
Read more

Devante Davis (MHA '24): UCHealth - Southern Region

Image
Hello my name is Devante Davis I am going into my 2 nd year as an MHA student at the University of Iowa!    I am currently interning at UCHEALTH southern region in Colorado Springs, and UCHEALTH mission statement is to Improve lives through providing quality care. My preceptor is Andrew Ritchie the Chief Operation Officer of the UCHEALTH southern region. He great a developing talent while unlocking hiding potential within his interns, and fellow! My favorite project was evaluating what the rest of the world is doing to recover from this global nursing shortage. Summarizing the data and be a part of creating a valuable plan to implement into the UCHEALTH southern region. A few other fun events I attended were the pikes peak annual racing event, viper’s baseball game, the incline!  
Read more