Cardiovascular Clinic

Internships at the Cardiovascular Health Clinic

Mayo Clinic offers unpaid internships for undergraduate and graduate students in exercise science, health/wellness promotion, and related fields. The Cardiovascular Health Clinic (CVHC) provides preventive and rehabilitative cardiology services to a variety of patients. Patients receiving cardiopulmonary rehabilitation services are guided through risk factor management, behavioral changes, monitored exercise sessions and weight training programs. The CVHC provides cardiopulmonary exercise testing for heart disease screening and evaluation, including pre-operative evaluations. The CVHC also serves cardiology patients at St. Marys Hospital by providing education on risk factor management, exercise prescriptions, and cardiac rehabilitation referral to their home area. Self-motivated and creative students looking for experience in a clinical patient care setting should apply.

Exercise Specialist Internship

The exercise specialist internship at Cardiovascular Health Clinic (CVHC) is aimed at providing the student with comprehensive hands-on practical and technical experience in delivering innovative clinical services. An exercise specialist intern will experience the following components of preventative and rehabilitative cardiology at the clinic:

• Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation
• Nutrition education
• Risk factor reduction assessment and education
• Patient care case management
• Stress/relaxation education
• Exercise prescription consultation
• Body composition testing (BOD POD, Skinfold technique)
• Functional assessments
• Hydrotherapy
• Cardiopulmonary exercise testing
• Endothelial peripheral arterial tomography
• Pulmonary function testing

Exercise specialist interns are given the opportunity to observe other disciplines at Mayo Clinic including, but not limited to, Biomechanics, Physical Medicine/Sports Medicine, MD/PhD Consults, Dietetics, Behavior Modification, Physical Therapy, Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Cardiac Surgery, Angiography, Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP), Electrophysiology Studies, Echocardiography, Vascular Studies, and Patient Education.

Responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

• Administering fitness assessments
• Providing exercise prescription and consultation
• Behavior and physical activity counseling
• Obtaining patient vital signs and inputting data
• Electrocardiogram interpretation and rhythm recognition
• Designing an educational bulletin board
• Cardiac Rehab patient case review
• Delivery of high-quality customer service with confidentiality and compassion

Internships last 12 to 15 weeks, but length may be adjusted to meet school requirements.