This from second-year student Pam Coudriet, of UPMC Human Resources:
The goal of my internship is to reduce turnover, improve employee engagement, and increase patient satisfaction by working with the front line staff at a cancer care facility in Pittsburgh. Part of the internship involved collecting data in two tiers; an online survey to measure “where we’re at” and an in depth root cause analysis that involved shadowing front line staff. I expected to learn about their jobs, record their complaints, and take detailed notes on the experiences they face each day.
As a result of my root cause analysis investigation, I was able to do all of those things – however, the largest impact on me had nothing to do with what I expected. Listening to these front line staff members talk about their patients was incredibly inspirational. There is a general consensus that they know they need to treat patients like they would their own family; sometimes, patients actually are family members of staff members. Other times, they keep in mind that the patients are someone’s family and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect during a frightening time in their life. They told me stories about the direct impact file clerks with no patient interaction made, going to patient funerals, and making patients feel welcome and important each time they entered the building.
While I do not work directly in patient care, this experience has impacted the way I work and interact with people. I try to heed Plato’s advice: “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle”. Be it cancer or a tough day, I try to keep in mind that everyone is struggling with something and a little kindness can go a long way. I had not anticipated that an internship could teach this, but this will – by far – be the most valuable lesson I am taking away from the experience.
Here is a terrific site (one that you will likely get to know if you join our program!). The Owl at Purdue is an online writing center with a variety of terrific resources. This page will help you craft your application essay:
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