Exercise Specialist

Overview

At Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., the Cardiovascular Health Clinic offers an unpaid Exercise Specialist Internship for undergraduate and graduate students in exercise science, health and wellness promotion, and related fields. Self-motivated, enthusiastic, creative students looking for experience in a clinical patient care setting are encouraged to apply.

The Exercise Specialist Internship at the Cardiovascular Health Clinic provides you with comprehensive, hands-on practical and technical experience in delivering innovative clinical services. Internships last 12 to 15 weeks, but length may be adjusted to meet school requirements.

As an Exercise Specialist intern, you'll experience these components of preventive and rehabilitative cardiology:

• Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation
• Nutrition education
• Risk factor reduction assessment and education
• Patient care case management
• Stress management education
• Exercise prescription consultation
• Body composition testing using both the Bod Pod and skinfold technique
• Functional assessments
• Cardiopulmonary exercise testing
• Endothelial peripheral arterial tomography
• Pulmonary function testing

Your responsibilities will include:

• Administering fitness assessments
• Providing exercise prescriptions and consultations
• Providing behavior and physical activity counseling
• Obtaining patient vital signs and inputting data
• Interpreting electrocardiograms and recognizing rhythms
• Designing an educational bulletin board
• Reviewing cardiac rehabilitation patient cases
• Delivering high-quality customer service with confidentiality and compassion

Additionally, you'll have the opportunity to observe other disciplines at Mayo Clinic, such as biomechanics, physical medicine and sports medicine, physician consultations, dietetics, behavior modification, physical therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation, cardiac surgery, angiography, enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP), electrophysiology studies, echocardiography, vascular studies, and patient education.