It’s August and that means that fall internships will be starting up soon! So here’s my unsolicited advice for how to get the most out of an internship. I did my internship in the spring of 2017 and was such an amazing time of growth and learning. Once of the best things I did during my internship was keep a notebook in which I wrote down important information from readings and interviews with other healthcare professionals. This allowed me to have access to all this great information and personal experience once I was finished with my internship. I still have this notebook and take notes in it during conferences and other opportunities for PDUs. Maybe a journal doesn’t work for you, but find a way to tuck away nuggets of information to glean during the internship process.
I also recommend putting your big kid panties on. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but you’ll be exposed to LOTS of different people and personalities. One person may shower you with compliments or praise for your work and the next might make you feel no better than bubble gum on the bottom of their shoe. Don’t take it personally and definitely don’t let it convince you that you can’t do this job. You ARE capable, that’s the reason why you landed the internship in the first place.
My last bit of advice is this, take charge of your learning. You only get one internship and you should take advantage of every possible opportunity that comes your way. This internship will be what you make of it. Ask for opportunities if you want them, the worst that can happen is being told no. The NICU wasn’t on my schedule at the beginning of my internship, but I asked if I could shadow the specialist there for a day anyways. It worked out for me with some extra time that ended up being in my schedule, but it wouldn’t have happened had I not asked in the first place.
You will be awesome. Somedays will be great and others may have you feeling down. BUT, you will learn so many things about this profession and also about yourself. I can almost guarantee it will be the most exciting time of learning in your life.
-K
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