Hospitals Can Benefit for Implementing More Internships

Written by Tina Samuels

Do Interns Have a Role at Your Hospital?

Many hospitals use interns of all types and levels; have you considered allowing more internships at your hospital?

Interns are unpaid workers or stipend paid workers gaining experience to use toward work or school. Of course, many residents are also considered interns, though residents typically receive a higher stipend than other interns.

Pharmacy Interns

Interns in this field complete a number of tasks.

The next generation of pharmacists will learn under the wing of an experienced pharmacist. These interns learn many aspects of the job, not just filling prescriptions.

When there is a reaction from medication in a patient, the intern may do research on the drug or carefully follow the patients notes to find where the reaction occurred.

There are many other duties for interns in this field. How much work they are allowed to do is up to their mentor and the regulations of your hospital.

Nursing Interns

Nursing interns are sometimes newly graduated nursing students that must fill a number of hours of internship in order to move on to employment.

Some hospitals use this as a probationary period while others do not. Nursing students can use internships as a way to add credits to their courses.

You must be registered with the local colleges in your area in order to be able to offer internships that will apply to the courses of nurses (or other medical field related students).

Physician Assistants

One untapped reservoir of internship for many hospitals is the multitude of people interested in physician assistant programs.

PA's that have finished their coursework may be interested in working as an intern or volunteer in order to gain work experience before moving to a private practice position for a local doctor. Some PA's may choose to stay on with your hospital which sweetens the deal for you when offering internships for physician assistants.

Administration Role

There are opportunities to allow interns in more than just medical roles. Your hospital's administration offices have many areas where interns can help.

Business students can gain real world experience that may allow them to make a decision to enter the field of hospital administration.

You gain helpful workers with a fresh perspective and the newest education in business. These different perspectives and young ideas can bring something to your hospital practices – new ideas that help put you ahead of other medical facilities in your area.

There's always room for interns.

Horror stories of interns that 'flake' (never show up for work or do bad work) are rampant. These stories may scare you away from using interns, but there are far more hardworking interns just waiting to help your hospital move ahead in educating the next generation of medical professionals.

Become well-known for using interns and you're likely to end up with the cream of the crop in young college medical students waiting to help your hospital be the best.

At the end of the day, it doesn't take much to help these young people and you'll gain much in return.

About the Author

Tina Samuels writes on reputation.com reviews, small business, social media, and marketing.