Patient Experience Internship at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center

During Winter Semester 2015, I realized how important it was I start taking the initiative to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. The countless options were daunting and all I knew was that I had to start somewhere. I had the fortune of talking to the right person at the right time. One day, I noticed a fellow student wearing a suit. I asked him what he was wearing the suit for and he ended up sharing with me an e-mail address I later used to get myself involved in the Patient Experience Internship at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. I took the internship as a way to help me accomplish two goals; to help me find out if I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare, and help me develop the communication skills I would need in any future career.

The Patient Experience Internship was unlike anything I had expected. I found it to be an amazing networking opportunity. I met several administrators and managers from the hospital and I even got to work alongside them in several service projects. I learned to incorporate the hospitals motto into my life, “Helping people live the healthiest lives possible.” Our internship itself also had another motto, “Be always.” The internship was geared at helping us become the best employee possible at all times; to teach us what grit, hard work, and ingenuity were. Our main goal was to improve the experience each patient had in the hospital, and it was solely our responsibility to form relationships with the patients, the nurses, and their managers to make sure changes were made to improve the hospital’s overall rating.

The environment that exists in Intermountain Healthcare is unique. Walking into the hospital quickly became my favorite part of the day. The employees are trained to smile and greet you. I got to have meaningful conversations with many of them. I even had lunch with several employees. The nurse manager taught me a lot about how to reward employees and how to run an office with love and respect. I admired the things he taught me and the insight he had on healthcare. With his help, and the help of the other interns, I learned to communicate with patients during their darkest hour to help them feel less anxiety. With the patients, I incorporated the things I learned from the nurse manager and I had even more meaningful conversations.

 I ended up putting a lot more time than I had previously anticipated into this internship. If I could go back, I would probably sign up for another credit. I left the internship being reassured that healthcare is the most rewarding career I could pick and I would not rather be doing anything else. Being able to leave each day knowing I made a difference is something I definitely want to have in my career. Over time, it was interesting to see how much easier it was to communicate with patients and nurses at times when communicating may have been difficult or even painful. I am excited to apply what I learn into my future jobs and Internships and I hope I now have the tools I need to really make a difference in the lives of many people.                         

-Jared