Internship

Program Schedule

The first two weeks are an intensive orientation to our medical facility and department, which includes an overview of policies and procedures. You will have an opportunity to shadow rotation supervisors to discuss the highlights of their assigned areas and attend educational in-services. During each six week rotation, you will have the opportunity to (1) introduce services to patients and families, (2) assess patient and family needs, (3) plan developmentally appropriate, supportive interventions, (4) implement and evaluate intervention plans, and (5) document interventions in patient charts and daily statistic spreadsheet, all under supervision of a certified child life specialist. After completing two rotations, the last two weeks of the internship provide an opportunity to select a unit from a previous rotation to independently provide services on that unit and carry our house pager responding to all areas of the hospital.

Rotations include:

• Burn/Surgery and Rehabilitation
• Hematology/Oncology, Nephrology and Bone Marrow Transplant
• Same Day Surgery
• Emergency Department
• Neurosurgery, Neurology, Endocrinology and Pulmonary
• Urology
• Infectious Diseases
• Cardiology and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
• Radiology
• Burn and Hematology/Oncology Clinic

Application Overview

Application Deadlines

Children’s Hospital of Michigan follows the internship application deadlines set by the Association of Child Life Professionals.

Please visit www.childlife.org to download the Internship Readiness Common Application. Applications can be emailed to [email protected].

Please note: We are currently only accepting university affiliated students.
Incomplete applications or applications post marked after the deadline will not be considered.

Required Readings prior to the internship:

• Child Life Council Child life beyond the hospital (2008)
• Handbook of Medical Play Therapy and Child Life: Interventions in Clinical and Medical Settings by L. Rubin (2017)
• Psychosocial Care of Children in Hospitals: A Clinical Practice Manual by L. Gaynard et al (1990)
• The Handbook of Child Life by R. Thompson 2nd Edition (2018)

Suggested Readings prior to the internship:

• Child Life Education Series. Child Life Charting: Skills and Strategies for Effective Documentation in the Medical Record. by G. Singletary & S. Francis (1998)
• Meeting Children’s Psychosocial Needs Across the Healthcare Continuum 2nd Edition (2018)

Stipend

No stipend will be paid to Children’s Hospital of Michigan child life interns.

Download Internship Application Form