Kyle Cole Internship with Advocate Bromenn Medical Center
Name: Kyle A. Cole
Class Year: 2022
Major: Biology
Hometown: Decatur, Illinois
Interning With: Advocate Bromenn Medical Center
Location: Bloomington, Illinois
Position: Palliative Care Intern
- What are your day-to-day responsibilities as an intern?
Work with nurses to co-facilitate conversations with patients with chronic illnesses and their families to ensure that the patients and families are educated on their conditions, the patients and families’ goals are identified and focused on, the patient is being looked at holistically as a person, and beneficial plans of care are established for the patients.
- How did you land this internship?
I landed this internship through a May Term course, “Palliative Care and Gerontology” that gave me the skills to practice Palliative Care and the Arthur Vining Davis Grant that allowed me to have this internship opportunity.
- What drew you to this internship?
I want to become a Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist, so I will be dealing with children with chronic illnesses every day of my life and knowing palliative care for my patients is crucial to ensure their quality of care and overall quality of life. This internship is an amazing opportunity because it allows me to practice my palliative care skills with actual patients, which will greatly develop my skills and ability to work with patients struggling with chronic illnesses. I am very grateful for this internship and the experience I am gaining at such a young age is so valuable.
- How did Illinois Wesleyan help prepare you for succeeding as an intern?
Illinois Wesleyan offered a Palliative Care course that was incredibly taught by Dr. Hall and Dr. Folse that instilled in me the knowledge of palliative care and gave me the ability to not only succeed as a palliative care intern, but to be confident in my abilities and thrive throughout this internship.
- What do you hope to gain from this internship experience as you look forward to your future as a student and professional?
The best part about this internship is that the skills I develop throughout it directly correlates to the skills I will need as a Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist. I am also able to carry these skills throughout any environment where I am working with patients and/or families whether it’s more experiences as an undergraduate student or making rounds as a medical student. I am very grateful to have palliative care skills as it also applies to my family members and. It is great to know that I will be able to help take care of anyone of my family members if they are diagnosed with any life-changing illnesses or diseases.
- What’s been a particularly rewarding experience as an intern?
Being able to bring patients and families closure and comfort and helping them through really difficult times in their lives has been truly rewarding to me because I know that I would want palliative care if myself or a loved one was dealing with a chronic illness. I am very grateful that I have been given multiple opportunities to bring comfort to people going through such difficult times because it makes me very happy that I can help in such a needed field.
- In your opinion, why is it important for students to experience internships?
It is very important for students to experience internships because anyone should spend time working and applying skills in an environment of interest to ascertain if that is what someone wants to do as a potential career and to develop confidence through experience in applying one’s skills in an actual work setting outside a classroom.