Summer Internships: Nationwide Children's Hospital

By Nic Rusher

This summer, I have been fortunate enough to be working for Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) in Columbus, OH. Although my summer is coming to a close and I only have one week remaining, I can honestly say that I could not have asked for a better place to work at, better people to work with, or a better experience for the summer. I have worked in many different departments, have gotten a wide variety of experiences, and gained invaluable knowledge from NCH executives that will undoubtedly help me for the future. Some of the projects I worked on include:

 

·      Behavioral Health Services Strategic Plan

·      Surgical Robotic Program Business Plan

·      Neuromuscular Disorders Clinic Business Process Improvement

·      Human Resources Change Management

·      Volunteer for the Patient Move Team

·      Volunteer for the NCH Foundation / Children’s Miracle Network Telethon

·      Volunteer for the “96 Hours of Fun” Grand Opening Ceremonies

·      And Many More!

 

NCH was founded in the late 1800’s as an 8-bed hospital. Their motto was to provide care for any child regardless of their ability to pay. Since then, they have grown to over 490 beds and have gained national and international attention from their high level of care ranking most recently, #7 Best Children’s Hospital by U.S. News and World Report and #6 by Parents Magazine. This year they just opened their new patient tower that stands 14-stories tall and is state-of-the art in every aspect. Despite finishing the largest pediatric expansion ever in the history of the US this summer they are still carrying out their original motto; providing quality care to any child regardless of their ability to pay.  The culture here is unlike any other and they truly are a mission-driven organization whose values are seen throughout every level of the organization. I was fortunate to be part of the patient move team during move day into the new hospital as well sit in with the IS department during third shift for their Go-Live to help trouble shoot any potential issues.

 

One of main projects that I worked on this summer was the Behavioral Health Services strategic plan. NCH has one of the largest and most comprehensive pediatric behavioral health programs in the country. It is comprised of 15 child and adolescent psychiatrists, 42 psychologists, and over 150 clinical social workers, psycho-metricians, and post-doctorate and post-graduate fellows and students. Because of the comprehensive services provided in this service line, I have worked with every department head, multiple clinical staff, intake staff, and observed in many of the clinics. This hasbeen a very rewarding experience to learn and interact on many different levels, as many of the services are multidisciplinary in nature to ease the anxiety and improve care for children and families. Instead of being bounced around from clinician to clinician, in different areas, they work as a team to limit the number of locations and trips for each of these patients and families. This has proven to be very effective in treatment and therapy but also required a lot of effort to organize a strategic plan around by everyone involved. In doing so, I have had to be creative and committed to first completely understand every area within Behavioral Health Services to best complete the current diagnostic assessment.

Personally I have always known that I wanted to work in a pediatric healthcare facility to improve the lives and care for children and families and this experience has more than solidified my aspirations. I am proud to say that I was able to work for and contribute, to such an amazingorganization, and look forward to seeing how NCH continues to lead the way and provide the highest quality care for every patient regardless of cost. Because as they say, “when your child needs a hospital, everything matters.”