SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Investing in the Future: Hospital Medicine Summer Internships for Students

Pdf Summary

This project describes an 8-week summer internship for rising second-year medical students aimed at building experience in hospital quality, safety, value improvement, and health equity. The program was designed to address a gap in medical education, where students often have limited opportunities to apply foundational concepts in these areas.<br /><br />Eligible U.S. medical students from both internal and external institutions were selected through a holistic review process and received a stipend to support living expenses. From 2019 to 2022, six interns participated, focusing either on quality/safety/value or health equity. In 2023, the program expanded to three interns, with one focused on health equity, one on quality/safety/value, and one on both.<br /><br />Interns participated in 2–3 projects with active mentorship, completed a structured curriculum including didactics, self-study, and weekly facilitated discussions, and presented their work at stakeholder meetings and Divisional Grand Rounds. They could also attend optional meetings relevant to their interests.<br /><br />Feedback from interns and mentors suggested the program benefited all parties. Interns reported gaining skills in presentation, synthesis, and applying quality improvement frameworks. Mentors noted interns contributed meaningfully to project work, including auditing, data collection, analysis, synthesis, and idea generation. Both groups highlighted the value of strong relationships built during the experience.<br /><br />The main challenge identified was mentor support: mentors suggested they needed stipends, protected time, and better help with identifying appropriately scoped projects for an 8-week internship. Future efforts will focus on improving mentor support and project selection. Overall, the summer internship was viewed as a valuable investment in student learning and hospital medicine project advancement.

Asset Subtitle

Archna Eniasivam

Meta Tag

Author List Archna Eniasivam, Madison Sui, Martha Ockenfels-Martinez, Molly A. Kantor

Category Innovations

Concept Medical Student Internship Program

Concept Quality Improvement

Concept Hospital Quality

Concept Patient Safety

Concept Health Equity

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Ucsf

Presenting Author Archna Eniasivam

Track Education

Keywords

medical internship

quality improvement

patient safety

value-based care

health equity

medical education

hospital medicine

mentorship

summer program

student research

Medical Student Internship Program

Quality Improvement

Hospital Quality

Patient Safety

Health Equity