This is the building I interned in every week!
Author: Jordan Spangenberg | Major: Public Health | Semester: Spring 2023
In the Spring of 2023 I had the opportunity to intern at UAMS Northwest Outpatient Therapy Center. The internship placement was through the Public Health major and focused on providing Public Health enrichment experiences. The internship was 16 weeks, and I interned 10 hours a week. The internship was hybrid, and I worked about 6 hours in person and 4 hours virtual per week.
For my internship, I got a select one main project that would serve as the main product of my internship. UAMS had a list of intern projects that I got to choose from, and I chose to create a patient follow-up system for the clinic. The clinic has no way of gathering patient feedback, or gathering data on patient improvement at various time increments post-treatment. The clinicians requested a survey that would allow them to gather feedback through email at 3 different increments after treatment.
As a student, I didn’t know all of the information that would be beneficial to be included on the survey. Therefore, I had to pursue interprofessional collaboration in order to ask questions that would help me create a product that was beneficial to the clinic. I asked clinicians from various disciplines what questions they wanted to include on the survey, and put together a survey of 7 post-treatment questions. These questions addressed both patient satisfaction with the clinic experience, as well as questions regarding the progress seen after treatment.
Other intern tasks I had included assisting with occupational therapy treatment, and maintaining the cleanliness of the clinic environment. I would sit in during treatment sessions, and serve as a rehab tech to assist the OT with various treatment exercises. I had a cleaning schedule I followed as well, which consisted of laundry once a week, and wiping down equipment after treatment sessions. I would also complete any random tasks that various clinic staff members would ask of me.
Overall, I learned a lot about both Public Health and the rehab professions through this internship. I had to work on my communication skills, interprofessional collaboration, and time management. I learned a lot about the importance of patient feedback in a successful clinic, and how to ensure that every discipline gets input into the feedback system. I am confident that my time at UAMS Outpatient Therapy Center will help form me into a confident and competent occupational therapy.