TRIA Orthopaedic Interim Internship

    Program Goals:

    • To provide pre-medical students with a dedicated and intimate experience in modern medical practice and subspecialty care.
    • To inform students about potential future careers in health care through extended, meaningful, and direct exposure.
    • To ease students’ transition into further education/experiences through knowledge gained during the program.

    One (1) St. Olaf student intern will spend the January term experiencing direct patient care, learning about aspects involved in delivering care to patients in a clinic, and observing procedures at the interventional procedural suite and operating room through association with various health care providers and staff at the TRIA Orthopaedic Center, Bloomington, MN. The student interns will primarily spend time with physicians (Marc Tompkins, MD, ’99, and Peter Stiles, MD, ’05), but will also learn from physicians assistants, nurses, technicians, and clinic staff, throughout their daily activities in pertinent and approved settings.

    Experiences will be planned according to TRIA’s educational policy, which protects patients’ rights to privacy under HIPAA.

    Areas of exposure might include:

    • Orthopedic surgery in the operating room and clinic settings
    • Interventional pain management in the procedure suite and clinic settings
    • Sports medicine
    • Pre- and post-operative care
    • Mental Health/Behavioral care
    • Radiology/imaging
    • Nursing care
    • Frontline staff/call center
    • Integrative health, potentially including therapeutic yoga, healing touch, guided imagery, and more
    • Administration

    The student intern will keep journals detailing their observations and their interpretation of and reactions to these observations. Additionally, the students will be expected to spend some time researching a topic pertinent to modern healthcare. Toward the end of the month, they will have a dedicated meeting with Dr. Tompkins and Dr. Stiles to discuss the topic and how it may impact their future career. The selected student will enroll in the an Internship and Reflection Seminar course for the month of January.

    Deadline to apply: Monday, October 17, 2022 @ 11:59pm.
    Students selected for an interview will be notified via email and will sign up for an interview slot via Handshake. Interviews will take place the week of October 24 (place and time TBD). 
    To Apply:
    *Apply on Handshake and include:
    *Cover Letter – include name of one St. Olaf faculty reference and plan/ideas for a career in medicine
    *Resume – include current cumulative GPA
    Put your best foot forward! Have your application materials reviewed by staff members in the Piper Center prior to applying. Walk-in assistance is available from Peer Advisors Mon-Fri, 8:30am to 5pm in Tomson 270.
    QUESTIONS can be directed to Dana Rechtzigel, Associate Director, Career Development and Coaching (Pre-Health) – Piper Center at rechtz1@stolaf.edu.

    Learn more about this program here.