Allina Health

Nutrition Services

June - September 2023 • Minneapolis, MN

What I liked

I loved working with patients! it was really nice to be able to talk, and provide quality service to people.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Certified Nursing Assistant

May 2022 • Fridley, MN

What I liked

This job gave me an opportunity to gain confidence in skills that I would need for nursing as well as gave me lots of exposure to patient-client interactions. I felt much more prepared for clinical as I had seen a lot of different devices, dressings, tubing, etc. used before. I got experience in a hospital setting as a CNA without having to do the certification, but instead having done one semester of clinical my sophomore year. I liked being able to see a variety of situations and being able to watch the process nurses went through so I was constantly learning. SUPER flexible with summer jobs and staying casual during the school year (2 shifts a month) to keep your foot in the door.

What I wish was different

My training was short which had it's pros and cons. I rarely saw my supervisor and don't think I was introduced to my manager once since I've started. My floor was understaffed and overworked which is not uncommon, just definitely hard to jump into being brand new to being a CNA or anything remotely in this field, but I got used to it pretty quickly! I didn't have an option to pick between 8 vs 12 hour shifts and then day/evening/night rotations so I got hosed in that department.

Advice

GET HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE BEFORE DIVING INTO CLINICALS IF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT THEM/ NEED A CONFIDENCE BOOSTER. I am an extremely anxious person and this helped tremendously.

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Student Nurse Intern

June - August 2021 • Saint Paul, MN

What I liked

I loved working with the patients, learning more nursing skills, and being able to practice them. My preceptor was also helpful and there for me every step of the way. She was a knowledgeable teacher.

What I wish was different

Advice

Say "yes" when the nurses ask if you want to watch a skill or help with patients and ask for opportunities to try new skills and see new things that you haven't before.

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Emergency Department Nurse Tech

May 2020 • Owatonna, MN

What I liked

New learning experiences!

What I wish was different

More student nursing integrated care.

Advice

Definitely worth it! Learned a lot of new things related to the nursing role.

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COVID Care Tech

May - August 2020 • Minneapolis, MN

What I liked

I loved my experience. I was supposed to have an internship at Abbott, but it was cancelled due to COVID. I was offered this position instead, where I was part of the Med Surg float pool in a nursing assistant/LPN role. I learned SO much from the nurses and they were all so helpful and willing to teach me. This experience was so amazing and has really helped me advance my career goals.

What I wish was different

I wish it could've been more like an internship so I could practice more of my nursing skills.

Advice

Take every chance you get and don't be afraid to reach out to others! This experience taught me the importance of advocating for myself so I could have the best experience. It really pushed me to ask nurses to see skills they were doing and ask them to find me if anything cool happened. Most people are so willing to help - you just need to reach out and advocate for yourself, so don't be afraid to do so!

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Marketing Intern

June - August 2019 • Minneapolis, MN

What I liked

Very informative.

What I wish was different

More direct communication with upper level.

Advice

Be prepared to absorb a ton of information.

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Student Nurse Intern

June - August 2019 • Fridley, MN

What I liked

The summer nursing internship has been proven vital to my personal professional development. The Allina summer internship program offers 320 hours of experience over three months. Though it did not lead to me obtaining a job at the company itself, having the experience on my resume helped me obtain my current offer as a soon-to-be RN.

What I wish was different

There were no aspects which I found disappointing or that I regret.

Advice

Be open-minded and honest with both yourself and your preceptor. Set appropriate expectations early and make sure that the communication is there. Know that there are resources available if things are not going as well as you would have hoped. And if the pay is less than what you're used to in the previous summers make sure you plan ahead as far as school-year expenses go.

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Emergency Medical Technician

August 2019 • New Ulm, MN

What I liked

All of it

What I wish was different

N/A

Advice

Work hard according to your own pattern of learning

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Certified Medical Assistant

February 2016 • Hastings, MN

What I liked

My hours and coworkers. I love what I do!

What I wish was different

Management

Advice

Always do the right thing for the patient even if it’s not what everyone else does. Smiling at every single person and treating them with dignity can be life changing.

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Student Nurse Intern

June - August 2019 • Coon Rapids, MN

What I liked

I loved the team that I worked with as well as all of the different things I was able to see.

What I wish was different

I wish I would have been able to work later into august

Advice

DO A NURSING INTERNSHIP!

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Student Nurse Intern

June - August 2019 • Owatonna, MN

What I liked

I enjoyed this experience as it added more clinical experiences for my future job. I felt more confident in my skills by the end of the internship. I was exposed to so many new things and being paired with one preceptor helped me grow throughout the 10 weeks.

What I wish was different

Advice

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Student Nurse Intern

June - August 2018 • Minneapolis, MN

What I liked

I liked being able to gain hands on experience beyond my nursing clinicals during the semester. I also enjoyed how fast-paced the Intensive Care Unit at Abbott was. The staff in the Neurological ICU were all very welcoming, and I truly felt that I belonged.

What I wish was different

I wish I would have been able to work a mix of day and overnight shifts. Working day shifts would have exposed me to more skills.

Advice

One piece of advice I would share is that it is important to always arrive early and with a lot of questions. Being early allows you to experience things you would have otherwise have missed if you arrived on time, and having a lot of questions allows you to learn a variety of new things and make sense of the things you do not understand.

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Nursing Intern

June - August 2018 • Saint Paul, MN

What I liked

Great working teams

What I wish was different

choice of schedules

Advice

Take any experience you can get! It's valuable, even if you decide that the area of study/work isn't for you.

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Front Desk and Hospitality

April - August 2018 • Fridley, MN

What I liked

Helping Patients

What I wish was different

Nothing.

Advice

Overall enjoyable and insightful experience.

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Student Nurse Intern

June - August 2018 • Coon Rapids, MN

What I liked

Everything. The hospital was great, the staff were so nice and helpful.

What I wish was different

I wish it could have been longer than 10 weeks.

Advice

I would highly recommend all nursing students to do a nursing internship.

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nursing student intern

June - August 2018 • Fridley, MN

What I liked

What I wish was different

Advice

Ask around for learning opportunities. See if other nurses need any help or have anything interesting to do so you can make the most of your internship.

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Nursing Intern

June - August 2018 • Minneapolis, MN

What I liked

I liked that I was able to get into the hospital setting in a clinical area that I otherwise would not have been able to experience. I also was able to really work on my practical skills and to practice managing patient care instead of just reading about it.