Corey Brooks ('26), a Health and Societies Major, spent this past summer serving as an Undergraduate Administrative Intern at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, a Level I Trauma center. The internship gave Corey firsthand insight into hospital administration as both an analytical and human-centered discipline. This experience was supported by the Franklin Opportunity Fund, an internship funding opportunity for Benjamin Franklin Scholars.
Corey Brooks – SAS ’26 | Health and Societies
This past summer, I served as an Undergraduate Administrative Intern at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (SNGH), a Level I trauma center in my hometown of Norfolk, Virginia. Working within the Finance and Operations department, I collaborated with hospital leaders on projects that sat at the intersection of patient-care priorities and financial/operational strategy. The internship gave me a deeper appreciation for the complexity of hospital administration and strengthened both my quantitative and interpersonal skills.
At the outset, the internship was framed as a volunteer hospital administration opportunity supporting hospital leadership across areas including patient care services, patient experience, hospital operations, safety, and quality. I found the internship through a high school alumni internship database.
In practice, my work became a mix of analysis and on-the-ground operational learning. One major project involved partnering with leaders in Operations, Finance, and Supply Chain on a $2M+ bulk purchase for the hospital’s 265-bed facility I evaluated payer mix data, reviewed balance sheets, and assessed capital budget alignment to ensure the investment was both financially sustainable and clinically valuable. This project taught me how administrators must weigh financial considerations alongside patient outcomes when making large-scale decisions.
Above: Corey Brooks at Sentara Hospital
In addition to financial analysis, I led patient-centered leadership rounding in the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit. Engaging with over 250 patients and families, I gathered feedback on their care experiences and relayed observations to unit leaders. These conversations revealed how small details—timely communication, staff attentiveness, or room comfort—can shape perceptions of care. This work highlighted the importance of empathy in hospital operations and reinforced how administration is directly tied to patient satisfaction.
I also helped advance the hospital’s “Return to Sender” initiative, which focused on improving transfers and reducing unnecessary re-admissions. By analyzing 37 cases from the first quarter, I identified bottlenecks in the transfer process and contributed to recommendations projected to increase efficiency by 300% over three years. This project demonstrated how data-driven approaches can directly improve patient flow and clinical outcomes.
Throughout the summer, I worked extensively with hospital information systems. I learned how Sentara leverages EPIC for patient transport, rounding, and experience tracking, as well as QGenda to streamline physician scheduling and payroll. Using Vizient’s analytics platform, I evaluated clinical quality indicators such as MRSA infection rates and patient falls, benchmarking them against national standards. These tools strengthened my ability to analyze complex datasets and apply findings to executive decision-making. In parallel, I began learning R for data analysis, which further expanded my capacity to visualize hospital performance metrics.
Overall, my internship provided a holistic view of hospital administration as both an analytical and human-centered discipline. I saw firsthand how administrators integrate financial data, operational efficiency, and patient feedback to guide decisions in a complex healthcare environment. The experience helped confirm my interest in pursuing healthcare administration with a focus on data analytics and quality improvement. Moving forward, I hope to build on these skills through advanced coursework and graduate training, with the goal of contributing to more efficient, patient-centered healthcare delivery.
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