Summer Internship: UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital

By: Sharese Van Sloten

Greetings to all! This summer I am interning at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids.  My internship has been such a valuable learning experience for me as it has allowed me to gain first-hand knowledge of the day to day operations within a health system. I have greatly enjoyed meeting with many of the organization’s leaders to discuss their roles and responsibilities and also observing key executive meetings.  These interactions have provided me with a better understanding of the organization and the role that each department has in helping St. Luke’s be successful.

The highlight of my internship has been the exposure I have had to the various service lines included in St. Luke’s continuum of care. My projects provided opportunities to learn more about primary care clinic management and the post-acute services included in St. Luke’s continuum of care. My project work this summer included completing an analysis of clinic productivity and referral management data to identify where opportunities exist to increase access for our patients, facilitating a post-acute focus group discussion, and researching post-acute information to assist with further developing St. Luke’s continuum of care. One of my final internship projects is observing a surgical patient’s experience from start to finish, including observing the pre-op consult appointment, the surgical operation, and the post-op rehabilitation. I am really excited for this experience as it will provide me an opportunity to observe patient care first-hand.

Outside of work, I have enjoyed many weekend road trips to visit my family and friends. My road trips included attending a country music festival over Memorial Day weekend, spending a few weekends back home in Decorah, and crashing a few of my friends’ weddings. This summer I have also attempted to have a green thumb. Besides the minor tragedy of my tomato plant dying in one of the storms earlier this summer, this has been a pretty successful endeavor as my flowers are still alive and well. See you all in a few short weeks!