Internship Program in Home Care Agency Reflective Paper Sample

My Internship Program

My internship program was in Meadowbrook Home Health Care, Inc. It is a Medicare/Medicaid and BCBSM/BCN Certified Home Care Agency that provides various services to clients in the Metro Detroit area. These services are home bound and include nursing, physical and occupational therapy, and the social work services. They are provided through the specialized staff employed by the agency, which has a mission of providing adequate and high-quality home health care that will result in the physical, mental, and social welfare of the clients and their families. The agency adheres to the client-centered approach to meet their needs and satisfy their values and choices, thereby achieving agency’s goals and objectives. Therefore, it has a specific structure and complies with the consistent policies and practices of Home Care.

Responsibilities as an Intern

The agency focuses on the policy of privacy and security of their patients or clients. Therefore, its security department is obligated to maintain the privacy of the patients and ensure a sense of security of all individual clients. As an intern, my primary responsibilities included keen observance of any irregularities like security breaches, as well as facility and safety hazards. Moreover, my responsibility was to ensure security, especially by examining doors and windows, and to use security codes and keys to open and close the agency buildings. Furthermore, I had to monitor closed buildings for any unauthorized persons and suspicious activities. I was also required to prepare routine, standardized reports, monitor entrances of visitors, and warn any violators such as smokers, idlers, loiters, or any kind of rule infractions. Finally, I was to monitor surveillance equipment and complete reports by recording observations and perform reviews of logs from databases, applications, firewall, and other security monitoring tools. After some time, I was also required to provide escorts to places as assigned by the department. After gaining experience and confidence, we shared knowledge with other analysts. Therefore, communication played an important part in achieving success during my internship.

Challenges and Problem-Solving Techniques

There are many challenges faced by interns, especially when they are unpaid, temporary and in a race to gain experience. The problems I encountered were not many, the major of them being the repetitive workload. The routine work of patrols and preparation of reports seemed to be obvious and somewhat boring. However, with time, I remained focused on the goals of my long-term career. I discovered it was good to set personal career goals earlier to remain focused throughout the entire internship program to avoid boredom and to gain experience all round.
Consequently, too many responsibilities made it impossible for me to complete some projects according to my satisfaction levels. While I learned much from these assignments and projects, I adopted the notion of “ask, ask, and ask” so that I could work as required. I engaged my supervisor and security employees in the practices and they guided me and gave advice.

Furthermore, there were two other interns from another institution, which meant competition among us. I encountered this by learning that quality work is all that mattered. Therefore, I relaxed, acted friendly, easy-going, open-minded, and less dramatic. Attitude towards others and work played a key role in making my internship successful and memorable. I am proud to say that it opened and expanded my connections because every person enjoyed working with me.

Finally, a change of lifestyle from that of school and learning to that of work setting was a challenge too. As an intern, there are responsibilities, which need to be done on time. No idling or hanging out with classmates is allowed during the day. To enrich my internship period, I made friends with whom I socialized during free time, joined a sports team, and became adventurous.

Still, emotions are common, especially when it is your first job or place of work. I was not an exception when it came to working in an agency, which had needy patients and clients suffering from various conditions. These people need care, compassion, and the comfort to their welfare. Children are the most vulnerable; thus, meeting their needs may be challenging, especially when they are deprived of their needs either physically or psychologically. On one occasion when providing an escort, I met a child who had Down syndrome symptoms and the mother who was struggling to take care. I was emotionally stressed with such a condition and I was left with many questions unanswered. I felt that life was unfair to the kid and that the mother needed more help socially, emotionally, economically, and legally. The situation made me realize that those of us who are in a good physical and mental condition should never take it for granted. On the contrary, we should maximize any opportunity to help others live comfortably.

Being an intern, I was ready for any response from supervisors, agency, employees, and any other party. I was ready to learn; therefore, being ridiculed or abused never bothered me much. Feedback from my supervisor were necessary because they made me work hard and improve on the areas where I had problems. For instance, when monitoring surveillance equipment and preparing reports, I needed feedback to know whether I was doing everything according to requirements. I never avoided any assignment because I was sure such tasks exposed me to many learning and life experiences.

Agency Strengths and Weaknesses

The agency employs well-qualified staff in the department of security. Employees also undergo various training programs such as emergency preparedness measures and safety management skills. They enable the staff to understand what is required of them and how well they can respond to such emergencies. In doing this, employees are able to share the skills with new workers and interns, hence making their work easier and more efficient. Furthermore, the agency has a clearly defined line of responsibility for reporting in the case of any emergency. It has also given security department a mandate to request any guest who is violating the law or has the potential of threat to clients’ privacy and security to leave the agency immediately without going to report to the administration to take action.

I consider all the above factors as strengths because it is important to have a well-defined line of responsibility for proper communication and coordination functions. Moreover, they are viewed as strengths because empowering and equipping the staff with the necessary skills is crucial in controlling the number of incidences that may occur at the agency.
I gained much from the agency by understanding the necessity of having a well-trained, organized, and responsible security department. In particular, the agency allowed the sharing of information with other analysts, which is critical for my career. Thus, I gained safety management skills and emergency preparedness measures that will help in my entire career.
Despite the above strengths, the agency has a weakness of solving ethical issues quickly. It took long for unethical issues to be considered and for resolutions to be made. However, the agency had an experienced ethical committee that worked hard to solve matters and ensure they never occurred by clearly outlining the policies and practices of the agency to all employees and interns.

Internship Experience and Criminal Justice Course

Responsibilities during my internship were simple, but they provided me with rich experience apart from working and relating with other employees. I practically knew surveillance equipment and the way it worked. Keenly observing visitors and their behaviors to note any suspicious acts was also an experience that would help me during future investigation assignments. Criminal justice involves adequate observations and investigation of people and the surroundings. I was provided with such opportunity during my internship. Sharing information with relevant people for situation analysis is also important because it helps expand the knowledge and skills of encountering security issues.

Career Choice

During my internship, I discovered that individual privacy and security are as important as people’s well-being. Institutions and individuals are prone to crime as the rate of crime increases in the modern world. I can confirm that my passion for studying and pursuing a career in criminal justice is still on. Creating a safe place to work and live for people and assisting organizations in solving and preventing various crimes and criminals are my goals. Therefore, working in Meadowbrook Home Health Care, Inc. confirmed my passion for ensuring privacy and security for all individuals and property.

Personal and Professional Growth

Internship in Meadowbrook Home Health Care, Inc. influenced my career growth. One of the responsibilities given to me as an intern was to monitor surveillance equipment and compile a report. The equipment showed all activities going on in the agency, the visitors who entered the agency, and what they were doing. It is possible to encounter unexpected challenges when you are on duty. One of my interactions involved individuals who pretended to be clients who came to seek assistance. Moving around the agency from one building to another, they made me suspicious and I had to report on them. I felt there was a potential security threat, which needed an alert. The authorities acted immediately and the guests were ordered to leave the agency.
Becoming a successful criminologist starts from simple responsibilities to complex ones. My internship in the agency provided a firm foundation for my profession and now, I am sure the challenges I met were good for both professional and personal growth. While working and relating with people, you develop skills such as speech, negotiation, and interaction skills. These are important in my career, especially during investigations, reporting, and sharing information with other analysts and professionals.

Learning Goals

Goals act as a guide on what you are doing so that you can achieve them appropriately. The goals I had set and tried to achieve during internship included networking with employees and professionals to help in my reference and future job opportunities. I learned from them, asked questions, and showed my eagerness to learn; therefore, I am sure they can connect me to get my first job. Another goal was to develop skills that would help in develop my career. I learned many skills ranging from practical course skills to transferable skills that I can use in daily activities. Finally, to apply theories learned in class in the real situation was another goal that was achieved. I discovered it was important to have a positive attitude and remain focused, despite the challenges, to achieve the set goals.

Self-Care and Stress Management

Readiness to listen and learn from others is a key to success during the internship. Positive attitude in a given task delivers positive results. I developed a focused mind, which helped me encounter boredom, compete with other interns and welcome comments from employees and supervisor. Relaxing the mind and concentrating on quality rather than quantity earned me extra credit during the internship. Indeed, being open-minded, easy-going, and focusing the mind on set goals are sure ways to stress management and success in working.

Future Application of Internship Experience

The internship provides an experience that learning cannot provide. It made me work hard to develop my career path and attain success. Learning how to respond to emergencies, practical issues dealing with security formed the basis in developing my profession. Skills like interpersonal skills, teamwork, and emergency preparedness and safety skills will play an important role in my career. The connection of what I have learned and experienced during the internship with my class work will be a step to achieve the best in the course. Having worked and shared with the security staff who are professionals, I am sure that I will contact them whenever I have a question or issue. We make mistakes and we learn from them, and the internship gives a chance to understand personal strengths and weaknesses and gain more confidence in personal capabilities, thus assisting in achieving what I have decided to do in life.