How to become a summer intern as an undergrad
Being involved in the pre-chiropractic club at UWEC has definitely taught me a lot, and has helped me grow and become what I consider myself a well-educated undergraduate pre- chiropractic student.
The reason I bring up the club is because that is how I met Dr. Kevin Schultz in Lake Hallie, Wis., at his practice, Hallie Chiropractic. A short time after getting to know Dr. Kevin, I asked him if I could join his team at Hallie Chiropractic as an intern. He had never had an undergraduate intern before, but I thought I could be a good fit for the summer months. He agreed, and I asked him to please send me more information about his expectations, procedures, etc. about the first ever internship for himself.
Dr. Kevin has been practicing chiropractic for 15 plus years, and Hallie Chiropractic has been in operation for about 3 years at the time.
This internship helped me gain huge strides in not only my chiropractic education, but as well as the business aspect of a practice. I did a lot during this internship and learned a lot as well. I helped behind the front desk, scheduling patients, cashing their supplement items out, etc. I also helped lead the morning 5:30 a.m. workouts Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays.
I also helped a lot throughout the office, keeping the workspace clean, organized, and tidy. I had two main supervisors, Dr. Kevin of course, and Nathan who is the office manager. He helped guide me and assist me while Dr. Kevin was in the rooms during adjusting periods.
My relationship with both of them was phenomenal, and I couldn’t have asked for better supervisors. They helped guide me down the right roads to resolving things, but then “let me loose” and had me figure a lot of things out on my own so I actually had to understand what I was doing. For example, with scheduling, Nathan just asked me one time to schedule someone and I had to completely teach myself what to do and how to do it. My relationship with co-workers was wonderful as well, and the entire team was very close.
There were also a lot of ups and very little downs throughout my internship experience. But I have benefitted from both. The biggest positive I can think of is the significant amount of education I have gained from this experience and how I am able to communicate the idea of chiropractic care to people who know nothing about it. A negative I have benefitted from was speaking with patients inside the office about upcoming events and different paperwork they had to fill out. I am a good speaker, but nothing makes you more confident than when patients actually listen to what you are saying and then understand why they have to fill out the paperwork you are handing them.
Through my internship I noticed how much being in a chiropractic office each and everyday of the summer for eight weeks helped me strengthen my commitment to my ultimate dream of becoming a chiropractor. You don’t exactly think that way during the internship, but now that I have thought back on it and am writing this blog, I realize how much more I know about my future career and now consider myself with the population of chiropractors minus the doctorate.
I never knew that I could speak publicly so well, but be timid when it came to speaking with people one on one about upcoming events, and insurance paperwork they were required to fill out. That was my weakness that I became aware of, but definitely improved on throughout the entire internship. A strength I became aware of was that I could talk to several people, patients, and strangers about chiropractic care and how it can benefit them in the long run, and why they need it in their life.
Following my internship I feel that I communicate the idea of chiropractic much more smoothly, and understand what I am telling people and am able to answer a wide variety of questions if folks have concerns, or specifics they need figured out about chiropractic care.
It taught me that you don't have to wait until you're in chiropractic school to get into an office and start helping out.
Have you had an internship experience as a pre-chiropractic student? Let us know about it!
