Hospice of Cincinnati

Mindy Hsu, Summer 2011

Interning at the Hospice of Cincinnati (HOC) was a very educational experience. I began the summer by shadowing in all of the different areas of HOC, as well as receiving training in the basics of hospice care. I never realized, until at least two or three weeks into the internship, all of the different aspects of hospice — both at HOC as well as hospice care in general. I learned about reimbursements and the intricate dealings with Medicare and Medicaid that go into hospice care from all sides: physicians, company, patient, and family.

Also early in my internship, I was brought into the diversity initiative as my summer project. I was initially surprised to learn that HOC has a marketing department, and was brought into several meetings to learn how a non-profit organization is run. I was also surprised to learn that HOC is the area’s only non-profit hospice provider, and gained some insights into for-profit medical care versus non-profit medical care. My time at HOC also quickly made me realize how little we learn about end-of-life care in our curriculum, which instigated me to create my own project, in addition to the diversity project I was already working on. I am working on leveraging the educational materials at HOC to improve the end-of-life curriculum at UCCOM, which will be a project longer than the summer internship, but something I realized I feel passionate about.

Overall, I enjoyed my time at HOC. I spent time with all types of caregivers: physicians, nurses, family members, social workers, chaplains, and the patients themselves, in addition to learning about some business side of medicine. I thought the experience was extremely valuable in terms of making me a better physician and person, and hope that I can convey some of what I’ve learned into the new curriculum.