Interested in learning about healthcare at a national federal hospital? Do you want to be involved in community driven research within healthcare?
Boston VA might be the IAP Health host site for you!
Who are they?
VA Boston Healthcare System’s mission is to offer options to timely, quality services for Veterans through care and respect for one’s physical, psychological, and spiritual health. We serve Veterans in Suffolk, Norfolk, Middlesex and Plymouth counties in Massachusetts. Quality Management consists of accreditation, risk management, patient safety, and oversights the administration of policies and systems design of processes that minimize, if not eliminate, harm while optimizing patient care and outcomes. The interns will apply the knowledge gained in this position to on-hand projects and assessments within quality management.
What projects might I work on?
Innovation: VA Boston Healthcare System’s innovation program supports employees with their non-linear innovation ideas through an accelerator investment program utilizing Human Centered Design Principles. We guide employees through initial phase discovery work including interviewing and market research, prototyping (designing and developing), gathering user feedback to iterate on the solution, and implementation of program and devices. Depending on skills and interest the intern would work alongside the Innovation Specialist and Innovators to help move different aspects of the projects forward.
- As an intern you could potentially assist with projects on: clinical applications of machine learning, coding, 3D printing, etc. to further project prototypes; creating surveys for teams to gather the needs of users; early-stage analysis of the market space for project ideas; observations of clinical and administrative functions of healthcare
Quality Management and High Reliability: VA Boston’s High Reliability Team plans, executes, and evaluates hospital implementation of enterprise activities to help the organization achieve high-quality and evidence based outcomes. In addition to supporting the enterprise activities, the team focuses on reviewing organizational culture data impacting healthcare delivery to develop action plans that address complex psychological safety issues and a culture of speaking up for safety.
- Intern projects with the High Reliability Team would entail partnering with the team to: assess, monitor, and improve organizational processes while working on a Lean Belt; chartered Project or PDSA. (to include time studies); conduct data analysis, quality assurance support, and participate in quality improvement initiatives as interested; conduct literature reviews to gather information on promising practices and trends related to project work; observations of clinical and administrative functions of healthcare
What do projects look like?
- Work in teams to help further innovation and improvement projects
- Attend huddle and meetings that give insights to the complexity of a healthcare system
- Assisting with general data analysis, including statistical analysis to identify trends and patterns within project data
- Observe and learning about general aspects of customer experience and how to leverage voice of the customer data to enhance project work
- Conducting literature reviews to gather information on promising practices and trends of specific topics related to project work
What could I expect to learn from this experience?
Students will experience real-world healthcare applications of technologies or skills learned about in the classroom setting. Students will be able to observe clinical procedures, rounding, and healthcare administration processes to learn more about the complexities of a healthcare system. Students will work in a team setting and build a diverse set of skills from data analysis, process improvement tools, and human centered design.
What skills are they looking for in a strong candidate?
The student must possess a high degree of time management skills and be well organized to balance demands among several programs and establish priorities. Assignments are of considerable complexity, depth, and variety, which require the application of independent judgment and exercise of initiative.
I want to learn more about IAP Health and the Boston VA host site!
Join us for an info session September 18, 2024 at Wellbeing Lab (Third floor of W20) from 5 pm to 7 pm!
Note: Applications will close on Friday, October 11th
