Current Students

HCI 4406 HCI Internship

Internship – 6 Credits – At least 3 hrs per credit for 14 weeks (252 Hours)

- This can be taken as one class or two.
- The student must register with the Career Services Office.
- They must fill out a learning agreement which must be approved by their faculty advisor.  This should list what they expect to learn and how they are going to achieve that goal.
- They will normally work for a mentor and the mentor will fill out an evaluation at mid-term and at the end of the internship.  This is a one page check box form.
- The student will fill out a final evaluation of the internship.  The also must submit a report and present their work to an audience of faculty, visitors and other students.
- The student will be required to submit weekly journals to their faculty advisor.
-  Most are done as a summer job but not required.  If it is done during the regular semester, the student can not exceed 20 Hrs per week.
- This should be in the Medical field.
- This is meant to be a learning experience for the student.

HCI 4306 HCI Practicum

Practicum – 6 Credits – At least 3 hrs per credit for 14 weeks (252 Hours)

- The student will normally work in the Medical field and be a productive member of the organization.
- The student must fill out a learning agreement which must be approved by their faculty advisor.  This should list what they expect to learn and how they are going to achieve that goal.
- The student will be required to submit weekly journals to their faculty advisor.
- They will normally work for a mentor and the mentor will fill out an evaluation at the end of the practicum.  This is a one page check box form.
- The student will fill out a final evaluation of the practicum.  The also must submit a report and present their work to an audience of faculty, visitors and other students.

It is possible to do both at the same time for the same organization with special permission.  This would mean the student would work full time for an entire semester.

Myra Moreni

"I am working on a part-time intern project with the State of Montana. I was trained in Helena for the WIZRD program which is a Web-Based Immunization Registry Database. I was placed in the Butte Silver Bow County Public Health Department, and right now I am helping the Public Health Nurse with data entry of immunizations, merging duplicate entries and other maintenance. I also needed to be familar with the many immunizations, as I am looking through nurses/doctors notes. It is important that I enter the correct information. I also traveled to a few other clinics in the area and helped them set up WIZRD and showed them how to use it. A long term goal possibly for this summer would be to travel around to other counties in the state and hook them up with WIZRD as well as train staff to run the program."

Jennifer Ryan

"My internship experience was observing the implementation of a computerized patient tracking and documentation system known as Ibex PulseCheck, specifically designed for use in emergency rooms. Since Ibex PulseCheck is Web-based (not 'Web-enabled'), it easily links with other information systems and is accessible almost anywhere, anytime. The Ibex PulseCheck system has been up and running in the emergency room for four months now and the staff says they would never want to go back to paper charting again. The different modules make sure that all aspects of patient care are addressed and that all possible charges are captured. It's a win-win situation for the patients, the staff, as well as the financial bottom line of the hospital."

Shanelle Sheehan

"My practicum experience was at the Montana State Hospital, located in Warm Springs, Montana. I started working in February of 2006, and I will finish everything up in May. During my experience, I was responsible for developing an Implementation Plan for their electronic health record software, developing the security rights for end users of this software, creating Access databases, queries and reports to ensure quality assurance, and pretty much anything else that was needed. I feel that this experience has really opened up my scope of thinking. I wasn't really as confident that I would be able to accomplish the tasks necessary with this degree and after this opportunity, I have actually been able to effectively accomplish all of the goals and challenges that they have put before me. I feel very fortunate to have been able to complete my practicum at a facility that knows who we are, what we do, and really wants our help!!"

Toni Wood

"I did my practicum with Ingenium, a Butte-based information technology (IT) company which provides data center and specialized IT services to federal agencies, as well as local companies. My goal was to help Ingenium lay the groundwork for providing digital x-ray scanning services as well as providing primary and secondary PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) storage. The knowledge that I have gained during my Practicum experience has made me realize that I can jump at the opportunity to work on technical projects instead of shying away from them. I had a great practicum experience! I learned so much about the work involved in starting a new business opportunity. I also learned more about the technical aspects of Health Care Informatics. I am walking away with knowledge of digital radiography, IT infrasturcture, data archiving, and business management."

Jamie Seymour

"I am currently doing my internship at Western Montana Mental Health Center located here in Butte. I have been assisting with filing their paperwork into patients' charts. Later on, I will be tracking treatment plans and assisting with Quality Assurance Surveys. I will also work on a database for the patients who do not make it to their appointments with their therapist. Anticipation completion date is the end of June 2006."

Misti Andersen

"For my internship I designed a database with a visual basic application program for the Kalispell Food Bank. The food bank runs five pantries and serves 11 cities. I was able to use my knowledge from Access, Application Programming, Advanced Application Programming, System Design, and Project Management on this project. I would not have been able to do a project this big in a class. It was "real-world experience", and I am very proud of the project."