Internships across disciplines: How do we compare?

Michael Odio

@mikeodio odioml@uc.edu

Assistant Professor, Sport Administration

University of Cincinnati

Origin of internships

Medical internships

Accrediting Bodies (APA)

Engineering co-op

Similar internship arrangements

intern (n.) 1879, American English, "one working under supervision as part of professional training," especially "doctor in training in a hospital,"

from French interne "assistant doctor," literally "resident within a school,"

from Middle French interne "internal"

etymology

Medical Internships

Exclusionary, prestigious, unstandardized

1905 AMA establishes Council on Medical Education

Late 1800’s

1920’s# of medical students completing internships 75-90%

1975 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education drops term “internship”

Rise in medical internships

Local gov

Federal/congressional

Higher Education

Early history of Medical Internships:Familiar “symptoms”

Elitism“A good internship provided the entry into the medical professions of different cities. Frequently, interns were appointed through personal connections, reinforcing the elitist pattern and tying house staff jobs to acceptance in private practice.”

“…[Made] it more difficult for outsiders, including minority groups, to enter the system at any level. Women physicians had a particularly hard time in a city like Boston, which had a close-knit set of institutional arrangements whose effect was to limit desirable positions to men.”

“…but unfortunately the internship was too often unsupervised. In some hospitals the whole house staff changed each year; there was little or no medical school supervision.”

Supervision

“Yet while its function in medical education remained undecided, the internship was being institutionalized as a hospital responsibility…As part of medical education, the internship should have been under the guidance of medical schools; but it was not. Hospitals had become an important power block in the organization of graduate medical education.”

Control

Early history of Medical Internships:Familiar “symptoms”

1991 survey of 2nd year medical residents

Type of mistreatment At least once 3+ times

Belittle or humiliate

Take credit for your work

Slap, push, kick or hit

Sexual harassment

Threaten reputation or career

Racial and/or ethnic discrimination

86.4 53.1

50.1 21.4

38.5 12.9

30.4 15.9

31.6 11.9

25.4 12.0

2002 study of 14 medical schools

Accrediting Bodies

Internship site criteria:12-24 months

Sufficient number and variability of served population

Nondiscriminatory policies and operating conditions

Site has formal written policies for intern selection policies and procedures, requirements, feedback, advisement, retention and termination, grievance etc.

Site supervisor standards and others

Engineering (and business) Co-op model

Paid full-time experiences

Built into curriculum

University administered

“Business” Internships

Fashion

Journalism

Politics

Eagleman & McNary (2010)

Sport Management Internships

Compensation/wage theft issue is not unique

Sites/organizations have the power (except APA)

Mostly every program for itself

Accrediting body is limited, not usually limiting

What should we take away?

Nothing should be considered sacred: Question all assumptions

We must protect those who are vulnerable

There is a problem of definitionConsistency is elusive, maybe illusive

Can we get it? Do we want it?

Internships across disciplines: How do we compare?

Michael Odio

@mikeodio odioml@uc.edu

Assistant Professor, Sport Administration

University of Cincinnati

Sources

Intern definition

Daugherty, Baldwin, & Rowley (1998). Learning, Satisfaction, and Mistreatment During Medical Internship A National Survey of Working Conditions

Stevens (1973). Graduate Medical Education: A Continuing History

APA

UC Co-op ProPEL