Summer Internship: University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics (UIHC)

By: Juliana Anyanwu

This summer, I am an administrative intern at Iowa’s only comprehensive academic medical center. UIHC is a 730-bed teaching hospital and a regional referral center that admits more than 32,000 patients per year. This summer, I am working with the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer in the executive offices at Colloton Pavilion. I just completed my second week and my experience so far has broadened my understanding of hospital administration. My daily routine includes attending meetings with my preceptors and daily Safety Huddles. Another interesting aspect of my internship is the Friday rounding, when all the interns visit different departments in the hospital.   

One of my projects consists of a Chlorhexidine Gluconate (CHG) bath bag rollout aimed at reducing hospital-acquired infections. It is being used in Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplant and Critical care units but will eventually be used in all in-patient units. I work with my clinical partner to make sure inventory is available as well as audit 5-10 patients per day. In addition, I have been working on a transfusion project in which I work with the hospital’s blood bank to collect data on the number, reason, and outcome of transfusions occurring in this department. This is all geared towards avoiding transfusion related accidents. 

I have also been assigned to do space surveys in various departments throughout the hospital. This will help optimize the use of the hospital offices and other spaces and identify opportunities to increase efficiencies. I am also involved in the analyzing the impact of the newly established short stay unit to determine the effect of the unit on length of stay, patient satisfaction, and reimbursement.

Health care organizations are experiencing huge increases in occupancy ratios and it has been interesting to observe the impact of the changes from an administrative point of view. I was fortunate enough to experience a Hospital Command Incidence System (HICS) drill, which lasts for six hours and is done twice a year. I also attended a conference on ‘Culturally Responsive Health Care in Iowa’ at the Sheraton Iowa City Hotel. The conference included a workshop on “Understanding Micro-aggressions” and it was very insightful.  

Outside of work, I enjoy all that Iowa City has to offer in the summer. I witnessed the Iowa Arts Festival and also explored some of the restaurants downtown. Overall, I have been able to experience UIHC’s delivery of extraordinary patient care in a team-based environment. I look forward to the rest of the internship.