Students practice on-site leadership in Tennessee Hospital Association’s Agenda 21

MHA students chosen for prestigious internships every year since the program was established.

From Staff Reports | 11/17/2023

The Lipscomb Master of Health Administration (MHA) program has only been around three years, but it’s already making its mark on the marketplace by feeding a highly selective state internship program for students of color each year. 

The MHA program is committed to developing leaders who focus on continuously improving the quality of health care delivery and serving the community by integrating Christian faith and practice with academic excellence, said Lesley Tomaszewski, associate professor and the director of the MHA and MBA programs. The program’s vision is to be known by the healthcare community as a premier faith-based graduate education program in health administration, she said.

One way the MHA program sets itself apart from other health administration programs in the region is that each year since the first cohort in 2021 at least one Lipscomb MHA student has participated in the competitive Tennessee Hospital Association’s Agenda 21 internship program, said Tomaszewski.

Each year, 12 or fewer students are selected for this internship program which works to diversify hospital leadership in the 21st century, said Karizma Whitfiled, THA’s Agenda 21 Program Manager. During the 12-week supervised learning experience, interns gain hands-on experience working within the hospital’s management teams in order to expand knowledge and skills and pave the way for them to become future leaders in the health care industry. Interns are assigned a project that helps them hone their skills while applying the leadership skills they have learned in the classroom, she said. 

Travis Harris (MHA ’23), Nick Pounder, current MHA student, Natalie (Slaughter) Browning (MHA ’22)  and Chloe Ligon (MHA ’21) learned on-site from top leaders at these health systems while also providing tangible benefits to the health care providers.

In summer 2023 Harris, research analyst at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, interned at ScionHealth. During his internship, he traveled to different hospitals, working alongside their senior vice president of support services, health equity and experience, and vice presidents of growth and outreach, and strategic operations to produce a survey to measure each hospital’s place in the health equity domain. After his internship, he wrote an article on health equity that was published by the company.

 

“The ability to communicate and know when to ask for help is a very important thing that I learned,” Harris said of the experience. “I also learned a lot about market presence and market competition which will be crucial knowledge as I climb the ladder within an organization.”

Also in summer 2023 Pounder, interned at TriStar Southern Hills where he researched and implemented a plan to use digital technology to help find wheelchairs that have been misplaced around the hospital. He researched the best company to use, the cost of RFID tags to make the technology work, how to keep the tags on the wheelchairs and developed training for employees to use the tagging system. At the end of his internship, Pounder was offered a full-time position at Tri Star.

“I was able to gain exposure and access to different people in the C-suites and directors that I could never possibly be able to actually meet otherwise,” said Pounder. “The Agenda 21 Program helped me get a seat at the table.” 

In summer 2022 Browning, now a hospice administrator in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, interned at LifePoint. Browning worked on a project to improve compliance with inventory requirements through scanning specific items in the hospital. She focused on ensuring that all item numbers matched, that proper signage was provided and specific procedures and reminders about scanning were implemented and communicated.

In summer 2021 Ligon, interned at TriStar Summit Medical Center where she focused on implementing wayfinding through a web-based solution to give patients and visitors quick directions when visiting the hospital. Ligon updated the signage in the hospital and trained staff about the web wayfinding system. 

“All the Lipscomb students were very intelligent and knowledgeable of the health care career field itself,” said Whitfield. “They each had their own interests and expertise, which helped them with interviews with hospital leadership. They all had great placements with a great opportunity and experience and are all great-minded individuals who will succeed in whatever career path they go down.” 

The interaction with top health care leaders has definitely been of value for the past intern,s they said.

“[My mentors in the program] have fought for me to get job offers at their company and have written letters of recommendation for me in applications to fellowships,” said Harris. 

“She taught me the importance of ‘coaching up’ and giving feedback in order to help leadership to become better leaders,” Browning said of her mentor during the internship.

“The Lipscomb interns have not only been open and willing to learn throughout the 12-week internship, but also had the opportunity to contribute fresh ideas and insightful perspectives to the hospitals where they were placed,” said Whitfield. “There are no other internships like this one where students get this kind of high-level experience and opportunity.” 

Learn more about Lipscomb's Master of Health Administration here.