Internship at HSJ - July 2012 by Mobolaji Ajekigbe, 4th Year Intercalating Medical Student, Imperial College London.

I was introduced to HSJ editor Alastair Mclellan on day 2, who promptly briefed me on the interview I was to carry out with an executive at $50 billion turnover health care provider Kaiser Permanente.

Day 3 began with a news team meeting in which members, myself included, were expected to bring ideas for publication to the table.

Despite the steep learning curve, I was immediately made to feel part of the news team, and was encouraged to participate in discussion on the publication’s focal areas of health care management and policy.

I was also encouraged to ask around for projects. My eventual niche involved researching the reconfiguration of health services in Greater London, particularly the impact of urgent care centres (UCCs): which A&Es they were attached to – or, in the case of North West London, which A&Es they were slated to replace - and their effect on demand.

Another benefit from being amongst the award-winning news team was hearing expert analysis as stories broke or were being developed, before it became news in the conventional sense. In addition to UCC, I also had the pleasure of deciphering an almighty list of acronyms (DH, CQC, CCG, NaPC, QIPP, NPfIT…) that are clearly never-ending.

Amongst myriad transferable skills, I also learned the thrills and pitfalls of investigative journalism: contacting press offices, for example, and how to successfully conduct interviews via email and telephone as well as face to face. Meanwhile, 3 essay-barren years of medical school had clearly ravaged my writing skills from their GCSE English peak, and they required an overhaul: how to go about writing an article in the first instance, and then how to tailor content to the target audience of a for-profit publication. Suffice it to say that seeing 2 articles published later in the year was worth it.

Another highlight was attending the Darzi's Fellows clinical leadership conference at The King's Fund, where Alastair chaired a fiery debate on the NHS and privatisation, which involved Ali Parsa, chief executive of Circle.

In the short-term, the insights gained from my time at HSJ have provided a boost whilst studying the intercalated Management BSc at Imperial. I imagine completing the internship after the BSc would provide added (though not necessarily better) perspective.

In the long-term, they may yet steer me towards a career in health management or policy, in tandem with the clinical medicine that I enjoy. Regardless, I think all medical students could benefit from more lateral exploration of NHS issues, which (at the time of writing) medical school curricula do not cater for.

The internship required initiative - lots of looking for things to do, as opposed to being told what to do - and as such is probably not for everyone. Disclaimer aside, I sincerely thank Alastair and the HSJ team, and Harpreet Sood and the Diagnosis team for the privilege, and can only recommend applying.