Summer Internship: University of Iowa Health Care

By: Bennett Luedtke (MHA ’20)

Greetings from the best college town on Earth, Iowa City!
This summer I had the great privilege of interning for ten weeks at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, working the Clinical Care Operations Administrative Internship with Dr. Theresa Brennan, Chief Medical Officer, as my preceptor.

UIHC is Iowa’s only academic medical center and is ranked as Iowa’s #1 hospital according to U.S. News & World Report. With over 800 beds and nearly 37,000 annual admissions, UIHC is like a bustling citadel of healthcare committed to raising the bar in academic medicine and bettering the lives of thousands of Iowans.

I had many fun projects this summer such as the annual Space Survey, creation of an interactive clinical documentation improvement dashboard, co-creation of a self-updating, interactive HCAHPS dashboard, and an HR project to establish a more equitable payment scheme for the many medical directors at UIHC. In addition to my projects, I had a plethora of unique and exciting opportunities as an intern at UIHC. I shadowed three different doctors in clinic, observed a total knee replacement surgery from start to finish, and attended a handful of high-level meetings such as Quality and Safety Oversight Committee meetings, hospital leadership faculty meetings, and a Joint Commission Steering Committee meeting.

Outside of work, I took a nine-day trip with friends to Oregon and Washington where we visited Portland, Seattle, Olympic National Park and the Mt. Hood area. I trained for and completed my fourth Bix7, and I tried some new-to-me restaurants around Iowa City such as Casa Azul, Reunion, and Thai Spice Noodle House. I also had a fun time hanging out with classmates who were in the Iowa City area, going to a few bars and restaurants with them.

I cherish the time I spent as an intern at UIHC; it truly was the most interesting and satisfying job I’ve held in my life. Through this internship, I learned more about medicine and hospital administration than I ever planned to, and I met some truly inspirational people. I am excited to continue my work in the executive offices as a graduate research assistant in the fall.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great rest of the summer!




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