Students

Experiential Learning

Our MHA program offers various opportunities inside and outside the classroom to apply course contents and allow students to use their competencies to gain real-world experience, such as:

  • Summer internship of at least 350 hours
  • Consulting project for a health organization
  • Participation in case competitions
  • Real-world, case-based activities and analyses
  • Use of real healthcare data in multiple classes
  • Site visits to health organizations or stakeholders
  • Health executives and managers as guest speakers

MHA Summer Internship

The MHA program requires a summer administrative internship/residency, of at least 350 hours, in the health sector between years one and two of the program. Alternative practice experiences will be considered and will need to be approved by the MHA program director. Students will gain hand-on experience working with health administrators and/or executives who have extensive professional experience. 

The objectives of the MHA internship are threefold:

  1. Expand experience and knowledge of health services management by gaining hands-on experience.
  2. Develop skills through participation in various management-type activities via shadowing of managers/leaders, attending meetings or working on projects.
  3. Identify the areas of the health sector of particular interest to help orientate the student's career.

Students will be expected to function as a full-time member of the management group they are assigned to. They will have a preceptor who will provide them with the opportunities needed to meet the objectives listed above. Such preceptors serve as mentors during the time of the internship, but often afterwards as well. Preceptors love supporting students and preparing the next generations of health administrators. 

Are you interested in hosting an administrative intern or resident? To learn more or indicate an interest, feel free to contact the MHA Program Director Dr. France Weaver at france.weaver@hsc.wvu.edu. 

Consulting Project for Health Organizations

In the last semester in the program, students work on a project provided by a health organization, which mobilizes all the competencies they developed going through the MHA program. Those capstone projects are typically team-based.

A group of three to five students are asked to provide consulting services for a health organization. Here are some examples of projects completed by MHA students for health organization in the recent years:

  • Gap Analysis of Services that Address Social Determinants of Health in the Wheeling Hospital Market
  • Transforming Family Medicine: A Fresh Look at Pediatric Patient Visits
  • Combating the Donor Lung Shortage with The Use of Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion
  • Improving the Urgent Care Experience: Creating a Bridge to Primary Care by Removing Barriers and Creating Access
  • Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement of the Transition of Care Process