Interning at University Hospitals

By Alexandra Seibt

In the beginning of the spring semester when my internship search began, I never imagined I would end up spending my summer with University Hospitals, especially since working in healthcare had never been something I thought I would do, let alone enjoy. Throughout the summer, I went back and forth between working in the marketing and communications departments at University Hospitals Management Services Center and working in the UH television studio at main campus in downtown Cleveland. I began my internship in the middle of June, and I spent my first day touring around the hospital. I was taken to the surgical floor where I met nurses and doctors, and saw the operating room board. I even got to watch part of a lesser invasive surgery. I felt like I was on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
 
Working for UH has provided me with some cool opportunities such as coordinating the media for a hospital visit from Roger Daltrey, front man of The Who, as well as working the Browns training camp on behalf of University Hospitals. Not only did I work a lot with the media relations team, but I also had the opportunity to work with internal communications team. I helped write stories for the employee intranet, and I also helped to plan a department scavenger hunt.
 
One of the biggest challenges I faced throughout this experience is fully understanding medical terminology. When I was assigned press releases, I had to do extra research to understand what exactly it was I would be writing about. Thankfully, more often than not, the doctors I spoke with for quotes for my releases were understanding and did a great job of fully explaining new medical innovations to me.
 
My advice for future interns is to step out of your comfort zone and be open to learning. As I said, I never imagined myself working in healthcare, so— as one can imagine— I was so scared and so nervous for my first day at University Hospitals. There is always so much to learn about the hospital system, health technologies, procedures, etc. and every day I learned something new and innovating happening in the world of healthcare.
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