HEALTH SCIENCE INTERNSHIP

JOSEPH F. SULLIVAN CENTER 101 Edwards Hall Clemson SC 29631

Melissa G. McCool Health Science Intern

August – December 2016 Clemson University

Introduction

¨  As a Health Science student at Clemson University, it is a requirement to obtain a health related internship with the opportunity to gain on-the-job experiences and develop professional skills.

¨  I had the privilege of serving as a Health Science Intern in the Joseph F. Sullivan Center, which is located in Edwards Hall on Clemson University's campus.

¨  This PowerPoint will serve as an overview of my experiences interning at the Joseph F. Sullivan Center. It provides a description of the site and department I worked for, a list of my roles and daily duties, and some of the projects I completed.

JOSEPH F. SULLIVAN CENTER

The Joseph F. Sullivan Center is an interdisciplinary health center at Clemson University, which is one of the oldest continuously operating nurse managed health centers. The center originally started as a “Family Health Center” in the 1970s providing services by nursing faculty free of charge. The first director, Dr. Barger, did a community assessment and evolved the clinic throughout the next 20 years while also creating a purpose and long term goals for the center. He established relationships with key community leaders, physicians, and public health advocates to expand the center's capabilities. In 1992, Blue Cross/Blue Shield provided an endowment to help fund the employee wellness program at Clemson University. Today the Sullivan Center offers a range of services from health promotion and annual physicals with the CU4Health program, to lab services, immunizations, and disease management.

Joseph F. Sullivan Center���Vision

Vision: The Joseph F. Sullivan Center is an integrating force for creating multidisciplinary partnerships focused on innovative methods to enhance community well-being that promotes positive human development, skill building and creative leadership. 

Joseph F. Sullivan Center Mission & Values

Values:

Relationships define health.

Holistic balance is wellness.

Affordable care is a right of all.

Transdiciplinary teams promote positive skills.

A global and environmental perspective is critical to human development.

¨  Mission: The Joseph F. Sullivan Center will drive community health research initiatives providing innovative, real-life student learning.

101 Edwards Hall

Daily Responsibilities and Duties

¨  Patient intake: height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, temperature, reason for visit, target health histories, primary care provider to fax labs to

¨  Entry of all patient information into Allscripts ¨  Lab duties include urinalysis, hemoglobin and glucose checks,

pregnancy testing ¨  Clean exam rooms after each patient and restocking rooms ¨  Assisting front staff with paperwork, as needed ¨  Preparing for BCN offsite clinics and making Wise Women

binders ¨  CU4Health Counseling

CU WELL: CU4Health Counseling

¨  As a part of my internship I also had the opportunity to intern for the CU Well program at the JFSC.

¨  CU Well is a comprehensive wellness program for employees, faculty and staff on campus at Clemson University. The CU Well program includes the CU4Health health risk appraisal, which is available annually for employees and staff.

¨  CU4Health includes blood work, BMI screening, blood pressure screening and an individual counseling session with a trained health educator, which was the position I served as under supervision.

Responsibilities and Duties: CU4Health

¨  Assessment consists of: ¤ Online health risk assessment that generates a risk for

chronic conditions through questionnaire. Also involves weight management (BMI), blood pressure analysis, eating habits, etc.

¤ Lab Work n Blood Lipid Panel, Complete Blood Chemistry, and Basic

Metabolic Panel

The online health risk assessment is comprised of an array of questions that ask about current fitness level, stress coping mechanisms, eating habits, and general lifestyle questions. It then generates an overall wellness rating that incorporates family history and all personal health measurements like BMI, height, weight, waist circumference, etc. It also provides a wellness overview that generates a risk for each category (example is provided below)

Responsibilities and Duties: CU4Health Counseling

¨  The patient would come in for blood work and then schedule a follow up counseling visit for one week later.

¨  They would also complete the online health risk assessment before coming in for counseling.

¨  My roles/responsibilities as the health counselor included: ¤  Printing all lab work before the patient’s appointment ¤  Reviewing any additional labs and referring them to their

primary care provider ¤ Counseling patient on lab work and online assessment ¤  Providing health counseling after assessing the patient’s

health score and lab work ¤ Charting any health history and goals established

CU 4 Health Counseling

This is a picture of me counseling a patient for the CU4Health program. Counseling sessions usually last about 20-30 minutes. We start with reviewing their lab work and online health risk appraisal and then end the session with setting goals and answering any questions they may have.

Daily Responsibilities and Duties

I performed patient intake daily which included collecting information such as height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, temperature, reason for visit, target health histories. It was then my duty to enter the information into the patient’s chart electronically through Allscripts

Daily Responsibilities and Duties

My lab duties included urinalysis, hemoglobin, glucose checks, and pregnancy testing. I also helped prepare the blood samples before being sent off to the lab.

Daily Responsibilities and Duties

This is a picture of the lab where blood was drawn daily in order to be tested and vaccinations were administered.

The picture below depicts what a standard patient room looks like. The Joseph F. Sullivan Center has three standard patient rooms and one operation room. It was my responsibility to clean the rooms after every patient and verify the rooms were stocked.

Daily Responsibilities and Duties

This is a picture of the stock room. It was my responsibility to make sure we had everything in stock and up to date. We also used these supplies to prepare for off site clinics.

This is the autoclave machine. I had to use this multiple times to sterilize instruments used during procedures.

Intern Project

¨  The intern project I was assigned was to update the MSDS lab manual and ensure that all materials used in the center were current.

¨  Material Safety Data Sheets are important because they raise awareness about the hazards of chemical materials and provide information on the precautions one should take around the chemical materials.

¨  Employers are responsible to make sure that all controlled products have an up-to-date (less than three years old) MSDS when it enters the workplace.

Internship Outcomes and Conclusion

¨  Completing my internship at the Joseph F. Sullivan center allowed me to reach many personal goals and further prepared me for a career in the medical profession. This experience expanded my knowledge of the health care field and built my confidence when dealing with patients. I truly benefited in all aspects of life through this experience. ¨  I understand and feel more prepared for the emotional aspect of working in

the health field specifically with at risk or difficult patients.

¨  I understand the purpose of a health promotion plan and am fully prepared to counsel patients on blood work and a health risk assessment.

¨  I feel more confident communicating with professionals, patients, and other medical staff.

¨  I understand the purpose of proper medical procedure and confidential of medical records.