Monday, April 20, 2015

5 Tips For Finding Clinical Internships

While different than another coming post with the title of finding "clinch" rotations, this post circulates on finding rotations when the competition is tough, versus the other post which is finding the most choice rotation you can get your hands on. This post will circulate on what to look out for, what opportunities to capitalize on, and, which rotations you may wish to avoid. Certainly, there will be some overlap in content since the topic at hand is so similar. Yet, in any and all cases, I hope you find this post valuable and helpful in your journey.

Here are............!!

5 Tips For Finding Clinical Internships

1. Big name, big brand, big resume builder.
Look lets face it, we're in a consumer's society where branding matters. When you rotate with a place of national if not international acclaim, you then will be blessed with that affiliation. There is also a big advantage in seeking these venues out. They are BIG with lots of rooms and armies of clinicians where the likelihood of you landing a clinical internship will be quite high. The brand value added, a definite plus ;)

2. The setting is important.
Clinical exposure is a big deal and makes you more marketable as a prospective employee. Try not to double up on the same setting, but rather, spread out your breadth of exposure. This is also helpful in simply landing ANY setting since there are many opportunities out there typically untapped for student rotations. You just have to ask, have your DPT program's DCE help facilitate, and the likelihood of getting a rotation just went up!

3. Favor rotations where people are able to teach.
Private practice is great; however, it can be tight operations with a high pressure on productivity. The same goes for SNFs and for profit home health. As such, teaching and learning in such settings tends to be rushed and sometimes even haphazard. When compared to big organizations that love to teach, it becomes night and day. Lots of larger organizations tend to not be on the cutting edge, at it were. However, it won't really matter as what you need most out of these rotations is: (A) to have one, and, (B) to have quality exposure to a healthcare industry setting.

4. Reach out via social media.
It's happened before and it will happen again! Social media has been a great way to bridge opportunities for both clinicians, affiliation sites, and students alike. I've been a part of such dynamics in the past and it is actually quite rewarding to use something like Twitter to connect people together for the benefit of a deserving and learned student. It's good stuff.

5. Consider areas where no one else is going.
Similar to the words of Tip #2, sometimes choosing a setting where no one is going is a good way to get a rotation. Going in the opposite direction to where everyone else is going allows you a bit more freedom. The trade off is that you may have to physically move to the rotation locale or you may have to settle for a less than favorable setting. But hey, when comparing being held back due to lack of a rotation versus having one.... having one is better than none.


It's actually a rare thing for DPT students to be held back because of unavailable rotations. What IS common, however, is that students are biting their nails... waiting for that rotation to finally get pushed through the proper channels. Personally, I hate living on that nervous ledge. I rather have things better planned out. So while this post circulated around the situations of IF you were struggling in finding a rotation... the follow up post will be centered on how to secure a choice rotation.

Stay tuned!!

UPDATED: Here's the follow up! 5 Tips for Finding "Clinch" Rotations.

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