Katie the Intern 10/30/20

Hi, HIStalk readers! My name is Katie and I am excited to be interning under Mr. H. He suggested my first entry be an introductory column about myself, my studies, and my interests in healthcare IT. 

To start, I’m a recent graduate with two part-time jobs and two side “gigs,” including this internship. I work a lot and my schedule is busy, but whose isn’t these days? I work in media communications, PR, and write for a local paper. Outside of work, I write and record music, read a lot, ride horses, and write. That just about sums me up. 

I graduated in May from a prestigious journalism school with a BA in journalism and media. I say “prestigious” because that is how it was described to me when I applied to the school, and it is one of the top-rated journalism schools in the United States. I call myself a “Covid Grad” as I lost the last three months of my collegiate career to the current pandemic. Obviously, this is not half the loss that many have faced during this time, but I do mourn the experiences and the connections I might have made had my time not been cut short.

I’ve often joked that graduating during a pandemic should be listed on my resume. Losing your last three months of college, obtaining a degree, not having graduation, moving back in with your family, and stepping into a globally crumbling economy should be listed as an acquired skill set. Anyone out there hiring? 

My studies focused on multimedia news. I have experience with photography, print, broadcast journalism, animation, interviewing, multimedia design, and writing. I am proud of the school I come from and very proud to have my degree.

I had hoped to work in breaking news reporting for a local paper. I still hope to one day do this, but as the industry changes to concise and fast-paced delivery, I know I have to expand my portfolio. I enjoy writing breaking news, interviewing, taking photos, producing videos, and getting information out in a timely manner. I believe that getting concise, factual, and interesting news and stories to the community is extremely important. 

I recently spoke with a reporter for a local paper that I have wanted to write for for some time. He is a sports reporter and is now only covering Covid news. This was an eye-opener for me about the state of the news industry and the state of the world. I remember teachers assuring myself and other students, “There will always be a need for news.” I believed them and I still do, but I am quickly learning that a need for news does not promise a need for true, journalistic storytelling. So here I am jumping into an industry I know very little about! 

To be fully transparent, I know next to nothing about healthcare IT. I even had to Google what IT meant and how that related to healthcare news and what Mr. H does. I have had an interest in healthcare since early college because I have a family member who is affected by healthcare legislation. My interest stems from a curiosity as to how healthcare impacts my sick family member and her caretakers. Information technology was not among those interests, but when Mr. H described to me the possibility of learning more about the field, I decided to give it a try. So thank you for your willingness to let me learn about your industry and what makes it tick. 

I hope to learn many skills during this internship, both from Mr. H and from this audience. I expect to learn how Mr. H aggregates sources and communicates with readers about those sources. I expect to further my journalistic skills such as concise writing, compelling interviewing, interesting and important storytelling, and more. I want to learn how sources report on what healthcare IT is doing and how media concentrate efforts in publishing that information as quickly and accurately as possible. I feel I will learn a lot from interviewing professionals in the healthcare IT field and from interviewing HIStalk readers.

I desire to learn as much as possible about healthcare IT itself. Information technology is a concise name for a robust industry. I hope to learn what IT is, what it involves, and how it impacts healthcare. I want to understand who develops healthcare IT and what pushes those developments forward. I want to learn how healthcare legislation is impacted by the IT industry. I want to learn how professionals in the field predict what IT will do next. I want to understand how the stock market is impacted by healthcare IT. The jargon in health care, information technology, and in Mr. H’s posts will also install a learning curve for me. I’ve been researching and learning acronyms that Mr. H and readers use. If I can get over that hump, I think I’ll be good to go. 

I believe that the more I learn about this field and what Mr. H does, the more I will want to expand that newfound knowledge. I fully expect the list of what I hope to learn to grow. I will be writing a weekly column about what I learn and researching healthcare information technology as much as I can. I will also be doing interviews with readers and sponsors. I would love to hear from healthcare IT marketing and PR workers who could describe to me what they do.

For now, I am excited (and thankful) to be able to step into your industry and to learn what it does. I am appreciative of your patience and willingness to teach me and to interact with me, and I look forward to diving into this internship more and more.

Thank you for reading. I do hope I’m even half as entertaining as Mr. H.

Best,
Katie the Intern

Email me or connect with me on Twitter!