The health field is arguably one of the most popular career choices for Stern College women, but how can students possibly know that a particular career is the perfect one before trying it out? The short answer: Experience, experience, experience. When one decides to build any career in healthcare, the first and most important step is to gain experience working in a hospital, interacting with patients and doctors, and possibly conducting research. Many hospitals and medical facilities offer internship opportunities to students who would like to get some experience in healthcare. Avital Yusufov and Rachel Weinberg are just two of many interns who found their healthcare calling this summer at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at the NYU Langone Medical Center offers a tremendous experience internship opportunity.
The Health Career Opportunity Program (HCOP) at the Rusk Institute is a four-week long summer internship opportunity given to prospective medical students to both gain experience in the fast paced hospital environment and meet interns, students, and healthcare providers. Based on the student’s interests and skills, the HCOP places a highly qualified group of interns into departments across the hospital. Students can volunteer almost everywhere from shadowing nurses to the cardiac and pulmonary research departments. This summer’s program had interns in medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, nutrition, speech pathology and audiology, pharmacy, child life, horticultural therapy, recreational therapy, and social work. The interns are places at different NYU hospitals across New York City depending on the department with which they are partnered. Each department invites the student to observe the work of professionals and assist in certain tasks. The program serves to introduce students to “real life in the medical field,; the rewards and the tremendous difficulties as well,” says Rachel Weinberger, HCOP intern.
The Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, founded by Dr. Howard A. Rusk in 1948, is driven by four principles: “Patients heal better when in the presence of other patients who can offer support;” “Patients healing post-tragedy can be compared to clay becoming porcelain;” “The whole person should be treated, not only their disability;” “Only give up on a patient when they have reached their maximum potential” (Rusk). With this commitment to patients, it is no wonder that NYU Langone Medical Center is a top ten national medical center.
The internship program provides much more than a simple research internship opportunity. Students are able to observe occupational and physical therapy sessions, attend conferences and meetings, and sit in on lectures and presentations relevant to their field of study. All of this contributes to the student’s intellectual capacity to pursue a healthcare career.
The intellectual side, though important, is not the only side to medicine. Patient care is a vital component to any health care career. At Rusk, doctors, residents, physical and occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers, pharmacists, and nurses all work together to maximize patient care. The interns were treated to overseeing the senior staff’s weekly evaluation conferences. There, the senior team meets for discussion and decision-making regarding patient care. These sessions, though they are not something a student necessarily learns about in medical school, help healthcare professionals keep up with every patient’s history and progress.
Senior Rachel Weinberger worked with people being rehabilitated from many sorts of injuries and procedures. Weinberger reflects that she was “able to see drastic changes in many of the patients during my short stay there, and many of them were well enough to get discharged. I also learned how important will and endurance are for recovery. It was truly remarkable to see a quadriplegic patient who, through intense dedication and hard work, learned how to use utensils during the weeks of my internship.” Weinberger is confident that “after this experience, I am positive that I want to be a nurse. I want to help people succeed in reaching the highest quality of life possible.”
Another senior, Avital Yusufov interned with the Cardiac Rehabilitation unit. Yusufov explains what exactly goes on at the CRU: “patients come to Cardiac Rehab after heart surgeries or other heart problems to rehabilitate and gradually resume normal daily activities. The rehabilitation process consists of a series of physical and occupational therapy classes that teach the inpatients about the exercises that will help them go back home to their normal daily life. Once an inpatient is discharged, he or she comes back as an outpatient for an assigned amount of therapy sessions to continue exercising in a safe environment, under the supervision of physical therapists and doctors.”
CRU doctors and researchers have many responsibilities. As a student, Yusufov conducted statistical analysis of patient pulmonary data comparing stress test results before and after completing a certain number of cardiac rehabilitation sessions. She learned that “the two important indicators of a patient’s progress are the stress test time as well as METs (metabolic equivalents) levels before and after an assigned number of therapy sessions. Stress test time is the amount of time a patient is able to walk on the treadmill under a certain protocol. METs are an indication of how much energy one exerts in order to complete a certain activity.” Yusufov laughs while clarifying that this study is still in progress—”there are no concrete results just yet…but its looking good!”
Not sure if you want to pursue a career in healthcare? Keep the HCOP internship program in mind because “it can really help clear career misgivings up—I promise,” says Weinberg in earnest.