Working on health literacy recommendations for the Diabetes 101 presentation
Author: Tyler Merreign | Majors: Public Health, Biology | Semester: Spring 2023
My name is Tyler Merreighn, and I am a senior Honors public health and biology student from Greenwood, Arkansas. This semester, I interned with the Volunteer Engagement Coordinator and the Director of Operations for Patient and Family Services at Arkansas Children’s Northwest. During this internship, I worked on a volunteer diversity, recruitment, and mentorship project and a health literacy and diabetes education project.
I started this internship hoping to pursue a career as a physician. In fact, the following is a quote from the grant application I wrote for this internship: “I am taking a gap year or two after graduating in the spring, and then I will likely attend medical school.” Arkansas Children’s Northwest (ACNW) primarily serves the 200,000 children, from birth to age 21, of Northwest Arkansas and their families. Prompted by a rewarding volunteer experience with ACNW, I reached out to their Volunteer Engagement Coordinator to explore potential internship options. She connected with one of the hospital’s Directors of Operations, and they created this exciting, interdisciplinary internship that would allow me to gain knowledge of the administrative work that goes into making a hospital run, apart from the clinical side I wanted to pursue a career in. Little did I know then that this internship would completely redirect my career path.
I started this internship hoping to pursue a career as a physician. In fact, the following is a quote from the grant application I wrote for this internship: “I am taking a gap year or two after graduating in the spring, and then I will likely attend medical school.” Arkansas Children’s Northwest (ACNW) primarily serves the 200,000 children, from birth to age 21, of Northwest Arkansas and their families. Prompted by a rewarding volunteer experience with ACNW, I reached out to their Volunteer Engagement Coordinator to explore potential internship options. She connected with one of the hospital’s Directors of Operations, and they created this exciting, interdisciplinary internship that would allow me to gain knowledge of the administrative work that goes into making a hospital run, apart from the clinical side I wanted to pursue a career in. Little did I know then that this internship would completely redirect my career path.
The most personally rewarding piece of this internship were the mentorship opportunities with hospital leadership. I got to connect with the hospital’s Vice President of Operations, Chief Medical Officer, Director of Business Operations, and many other leaders who shared invaluable career, educational, and life insight and advice. As a result of these meetings and the meaningful work I was able to do with health literacy, I realized the abundance of careers in healthcare beyond the clinical setting. I realized that improving systems is just as important to providing successful care for individuals as is the care itself. I ultimately realized there is a career path that is better suited to my passions and skills than becoming a physician that will still allow me to work in healthcare.
A nearly direct result of this internship and a reality I definitely wasn’t expecting four months ago, I will be staying here at the University of Arkansas to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a custom track related to healthcare management/leadership. I will also be working as a Graduate Assistant in the Honors College. Eventually, I hope to pursue a career in healthcare administration, and I am considering attending a Physician Assistant program after earning my MBA.