Summer Internship: Grinnell Regional Medical Center

By: Brooke Spencer

Hello all! This summer, I completed my administrative internship at Grinnell Regional Medical Center (GRMC). GRMC is a private, not-for-profit, 49-bed, Mercy (MHN) affiliated medical center, which serves more than 47,000 residents in eastern central Iowa. GRMC is the largest hospital between Des Moines and Iowa City and has about 50 physicians, 400 employees, and 200 volunteers. GRMC is known, across the country, for its innovative approach to medicine, high value for employee and patient satisfaction, and philanthropic contributions from local businesses and respected members of the community.

This summer I spent a majority of my time working in Grinnell, but was also exposed to some of the MHN leadership team in Des Moines through a MHN project and multiple network meetings. Throughout my administrative internship, my preceptor was Todd Linden, president and CEO of GRMC. I was able to meet with leadership at every level of the organization, was involved with projects in many areas of the hospital including strategy, patient satisfaction and quality, pharmacy, lab, human resources, and public health. I was also able to observe internal medicine in the hospital and clinical settings, observe two bypass surgeries (one using the Vinci Surgical System robot), shadow the ICU, ER, respiratory therapy, and cardiopulmonary nurse manager, and sit in on a radiology appointment.

As mentioned above, I was given the opportunity to work on many projects throughout the summer. My first project focused on coordinating a team to develop an integrative medicine study targeted at reducing stress and anxiety in the hospital. Another project that I was heavily involved with throughout the summer was analyzing employee overtime and determining how to use the employee clocking system to its full potential to mitigate overtime, improve the time off request process and scheduling efficiency, and utilize reports to better manage employees. I also spent time at GRMC working with department leaders to score quality compliance based on CMS standards, determine non-emergent transportation resources available to the GRMC community, educate providers on computerized provider order entry (CPOE) to increase CPOE utilization, and put together a formal strategic plan document. Along with my projects at GRMC, I worked with Zach Weiderspon, Amber Badolato, and other MHN leadership, on a contract consolidation project, with the goal of identifying high-cost contract service areas and focusing cost-saving efforts on these areas to lower expenses for MHN affiliated hospitals.

When I was not working, I spent time camping and boating at Rock Creek, volunteering at community events in Grinnell, hanging out with family and friends in Des Moines, attending a sprint car race at the Newton speedway, kayaking in southwest Iowa, travelling to Kansas City for a weekend get-away with the family, and attending country concerts. Overall, I could not have asked for a better internship experience than I received at Grinnell Regional Medical Center this summer. I was exposed to a variety of service areas, people, and healthcare organizations and still had time to enjoy the summer. As summer comes to a close, I am looking forward to getting back to Iowa City and reconnecting with all of my classmates as well as getting to know the incoming 1st year students!