#hpmpracticum

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So, What’s a Practicum, Anyway?

Contributors: Celia Wright, Fatema Begum, Lauren Hoisl, Morgan Traina, Jade Tan, Katie Glockner, Grace Son, Nyashadzashe Makoni, Heather Xu

As a prospective, incoming, or first year student, you’ll probably hear a lot about the student practicum. But what do HPM students do for our practicums, anyway? Learn more from our second years about what we really worked on over the summer.

Celia Wright spent her summer in Mae Sot, Thailand, working with migrants on the Thai-Burma border through the Burma Children Medical Fund. The organization works to treat patients who require complex medical procedures unavailable within Myanmar.

Every dollar really makes a difference in global health (both due to judicious spending practices and different costs of living - my lunch every day cost 50 cents). Working with small organizations can allow an individual to make a sizeable impact in a short time, and to learn a ton about management outside of their individual job responsibilities. An intern with a large foundation may be confined to their cubicle and very specific job responsibilities/deliverables. While I had specific responsibilities and deliverables, I had the freedom to work on most things I wanted to, to sit in on every important conversation, and to evaluate organizational operations that fell outside my official purview. - Celia

Fatema Begum had the opportunity to work at the Mount Sinai Hospital as an Ambulatory Care Operations Intern, focusing on improving patient experience and access to care within an outpatient OB/GYN clinic.  

Working on this project piqued my interest in healthcare management as it allowed me to think of the patient’s interaction with the clinic at every touch point. In just a few short weeks, I learned about communicating, influencing, gaining trust and buy-in. Successful process improvement involved communication at every level of the organization, collaboration, and staff engagement... The enriching experience and the impact these projects had on patients shaped my career aspiration of working in hospital administration to combine my interests in ambulatory care and population health. Additionally, it crystallized my decision to continue working for an organization whose mission and culture aligned with my values. After graduation, I'm enthusiastic about returning to work at the Mount Sinai Health System as an Administrative Fellow. - Fatema

Lauren Hoisl was able to spend six months with the World Health Organization as a Global Health Certificate student. 

The first half of my practicum took place in Geneva, Switzerland, where I gained exposure to the high level politics and agenda setting that takes place at Headquarters. During the second half I was in the Regional Office for Africa, in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, learning how global frameworks are adapted to the regional context and disseminated to the Country Offices. These experiences helped me develop the skills necessary to navigate a large bureaucracy and will certainly enable me to work more effectively once I return to country level health systems strengthening initiatives. - Lauren

Morgan Traina, a HPM-Chronic Disease Epidemiology student, completed her practicum with Analysis Group (Economic, Financial and Strategy consulting) in Menlo Park, and worked as an Analyst with their healthcare team.

I enjoyed the challenging nature of the work, and the ability to integrate and apply skills that I had learned in both HPM and Epidemiology courses. One of the main projects that I worked on was a budget impact model - it was interesting and rewarding to see how the work put into this model could have a real-world impact, affecting pricing and coverage options for patients, providers, and manufacturers. The most enjoyable part of the summer was getting to know the AG Menlo Park team. Everyone was eager to help me learn, and they made my practicum a truly memorable experience. - Morgan

Jade Tan worked with two different organizations for her student practicum: not only was she an Executive Intern at  Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), but she also worked at the Microbiology Genetics Lab on Columbia’s Morningside campus.

This was an opportunity to explore both sides of my interests — executive management at a health-related organization, and wet lab research... The most valuable lesson I learned during these experiences is that taking the initiative to ask is often rewarded — whether it’s asking to sit on executive/board-level meetings, or trying out the new Python database. You never know when the answer will be ‘yes'. A lot of times, the worst thing they might say is ‘no'. - Jade

Katie Glockner spent her summer in Mexico City, working on program evaluation for various reproductive health initiatives at the Population Council. 

My practicum was a rich experience in personal and professional growth - not only did I get to build my technical skills for research and data analysis, but I also was able to explore another country and culture on my own. I definitely learned the importance of asking questions and understanding the subtleties within translation! - Katie

Grace Son spent her practicum at the Quality Management Department of Lenox Hill Hospital, working with both clinical and non-clinical staff on process improvement initiatives to improve sepsis bundle compliance.

My project was especially rewarding because I had the privilege of seeing one issue through so many different perspectives – the registrar, bed management, patient transport, nurses, providers, and even lab technicians. This experience introduced me to the immensely intricate interdisciplinary nature of hospital operations and definitely sparked my interest in a career in healthcare management. - Grace

Nyashadzashe Makoni did her practicum as a Strategic Information Intern with ICAP in Zimbabwe as a Global Health Certificate student.

A few things I learnt were that no matter how many hours you spend in a classroom, it does not compare to being in the field experiencing all the case studies we read in real life. And your coursework never translates as perfectly in your practicum as it does on paper. Life is unpredictable. Another thing- bureaucracy bureaucracy bureaucracy! In order for your project to take off, you really need to go through many influential people and constantly make some compromises to get the support you need. - Nyashadzashe 

Heather Xu completed her practicum as a research project. After the summer, she’s been able to continue her work -- and even gave an oral presentation at the international stroke conference!

Stay tuned for the rest of our upcoming mini-series focusing on students’ practicum-related tips and tales!

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6 Ways HPM & Mailman Can Help You Find Your Practicum

Contributor: Celia Wright (MPH 2018)

Worried that you’ll have trouble finding a practicum? Don’t be! HPM has plenty of ways to support its students in the search - such as using your peers as resources and as motivators, seeking help from the administrators, and reaching out to the alumni network! Hear from second-year MPH student Celia Wright on how she approached her practicum hunt.

1. Phone a Friend

Working with a friend or two will hold you accountable and make the process fun. Find someone who has similar interests and make a sheet to store cool stuff you find. Ours looked something like this:

Meet (bi)weekly. Set goals for what you’ll accomplish between meetings. Report back. Share opportunities. Bond. 

2. Meet with LaTanya Brown

Each department has someone in charge of helping students find practica, and for HPM students this is LaTanya Brown. Email to meet. Ask her what works well for other students and find out if you’re eligible for an HPM stipend.

3. Utilize OFP Resources

Office of Field Placement (OFP) loves to meet with students one on one! Email to arrange: msph-ofp@columbia.edu

You can also use the OFP folder on Canvas to find job postings, stipend info, and funding sources. It should have folders organized like this:

4. Career Services is AMAZING

Whether you already know what you want to do or have no idea, these people are like therapists! Log in to CareerLink from this page to set up a meeting. (See “Make Appointment” on left side)

5. Review Former Practica

Log in to Career Link, again from this page. See “Job Search” tab at the top. Click “View Expired Jobs.” Change “Position Type” to “Internship,” and add search terms relevant to you!

6. Leverage Alumni Resources 

Once you’ve found some organizations and practica you’re interested in, look for alumni at those organizations to learn more. See “Alumni Networking” tab on Career Link. Search by organization. Reach out for informational interviews!

For her practicum, Celia worked in Mae Sot, Thailand, with the Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF). BCMF mainly serves Burmese migrants and refugees at the Thai-Burma border, treating patients who require complex medical procedures unavailable within Myanmar. More recently, BCMF has expanded into health promotion and health care provision within Myanmar, with a growing network of clinic and NGO partners. In her role, Celia assisted in conducting interviews, fundraising, grant-writing, and more!

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5 Questions You Should Ask While Interviewing

With spring break and Mailman’s DC Career Week behind us, students are getting even further along in our practicum and job hunts! Hear from Ekta Patel (MPH ‘18) about what questions she recommends asking to land the offer and find the right fit for you.

1. What do the day to day functions of this position include? 

Is it more putting out fires, or working on planned tasks? Is there flexibility in choosing projects or teams?

2. How many projects does an intern handle at once? 

How long do projects last? What was an interesting project a previous intern worked on?

3. What are the dynamics and size of the teams?

Are their opportunities for mentorship?

4. The job description allows for a small part of the role to be oriented around XYZ - what have previous interns done to fulfill this aspect?

Would there be opportunities for me to use this material for a thesis or continue with this project?

5. You mentioned that there might be opportunities to for me to grow into after the internship - what roles have your previous interns taken on after they leave the team?

At the end of the day, always remember to research the company and the position before going in so that you can tailor your questions and really wow your interviewer!

For her practicum, Ekta was a part of the 2017 administrative intern cohort at Houston Methodist Hospital. She was assigned to work with Nursing Strategy and Operations on optimizing the structure to improve patient outcomes and nurse communication.