I just landed in Ireland a few hours ago, and it is only eight days before the start of my internship, and I am getting very excited for it. I spent my first day here exploring the campus and relaxing after my long flight. I plan on spending part of this week exploring the rest of campus and the city of Dublin. Also, in a few days, I plan on taking the bus to my internship place of work to get used to the public transportation system so that I am prepared for my first day of work. I am grateful that I have a whole week here to plan and prepare for the start of my internship, and I think it will properly prepare me for next week.
For the next several weeks, I will be working in the healthcare industry for my internship. My internship company is a non-profit charity that provides free medical assistance to those suffering from acquired head injuries as well as psychological services for their families. Some of these services that the company provides include group rehabilitation, psychology services, and support for family members, so there are a variety of services provided to those in need. The company I am working for has several different locations throughout Ireland, but I will be focused in Dublin.
Some of the important skills and strengths necessary for this industry include empathy, patience, teamwork, independence, and creativity. In my position, I will be spending my day-to-day around those that have suffered from a brain injury, so it will be very important to be considerate and empathetic towards the clients at my internship. Most of them are going through a difficult time that I do not personally understand myself, so it will be important for me to become understanding and empathetic toward clients suffering during my time working here. It is also going to be important for me to be patient. The clients at my internship may be having a hard time adjusting to their life from their brain injury, so it will be important for me to realize that I will need to be patient with both my co-workers and the clients since they are going through a difficult stage of their lives. Regarding teamwork, I will be working with others to help set up tasks and activities for the day for the clients. I will need to learn to work well with others in my internship and be able to collaborate with them to create tasks and activities each day. This will also be important in the future since it is always helpful to be able to work well in a team. My internship may also leave room for some work that I will do on my own, or that I will initiate. If so, it will be important for me to be able to work on things successfully independently, which is another skill that is important outside of this internship. Another important skill for this industry involves creativity. Since my internship involves creating tasks for clients every day, I will need to use my creativity to come up with potential ideas for this. This is something I am not particularly used to, but I am hoping to adjust after the first week and be able to contribute creatively in the following weeks I spend here.
In Ireland, most healthcare services are either free of charge or at a low cost. This system is very different from America in which we are accustomed to paying high prices out-of-pocket for most healthcare services, and sometimes people avoid them entirely because of their extreme expense. Since the services are more affordable here, it will allow both myself and the company to devote extra time and energy to the betterment of patients’ conditions rather than focusing on what they can afford or what their insurance company is willing to cover for them. I believe that this system in Ireland will allow me to be more efficient in my job since I know that the clients do not have to worry about paying for their services, and it will allow me to feel good about the work I do since they are receiving this help without the worry of medical expenses. It will be different for me to experience this industry in Ireland since I am used to the rather expensive American healthcare system, but I will learn to appreciate the free healthcare system in Dublin and how it serves to help those in need.