Summer Internship: University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

By: Lindsey Reed

Greetings from Iowa City! I am one of many interns at the growing University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC). It is Iowa’s only comprehensive academic medical center; comprised of UI Health Care, UI Children’s Hospital (pictured), and UI Carver College of Medicine. Consistently ranked as a top hospital in the United Sates, Iowa was also ranked America’s #1 Employer by Forbes magazine.
My internship experience has been somewhat unconventional, being longer and larger in scope than most. I am an intern in the Health Care Information Systems (HCIS) division, which operates and maintains UIHC’s electronic medical record. I was fortunate to begin my journey in January 2015 and will continue until May 2016. This has not only allowed me to take a central role in many projects, but also shadow and meet a number of individuals within the organization.

With the changes and advancement in healthcare, information is king. I am surrounded by progressive-minded individuals in the information systems division, but implementing change and pushing initiatives hospital-wide is tough. We need to gain approval by a number of committees and ensure we have a physician champion in each department before we start a pilot. I’ve been assigned a number of projects, but I will highlight my favorite.

I act as Project Manager for a Support Service Recovery initiative. Currently, if a patient has a negative experience, an employee issues the individual a voucher to the cafeteria, parking, gift shop, or coffee shop. The vouchers are carried in large, red binders on each floor and the employee must write down a reason as to why they are issuing the voucher. We are moving the vouchers into our electronic medical record, Epic. By moving this process into Epic, we have the ability to positively impact the patient experience. Reports can be run weekly to observe why vouchers are being issued and which departments issued them. Interventions can be planned if there are any negative trends in specific departments. I truly am enjoying this project and am working with some great individuals in the Office of Patient Experience.


Outside of work I have enjoyed the summer fun Iowa City has to offer. There have been a number of festivals with live music and games. I have a few more trips planned before school starts, but am excited for all my classmates to return and football season to start! Go Hawks!

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