I’ve written in previous columns about the importance of community-based internships for our students, giving them real-world experience with hands-on engaged learning. Internships are important not just for helping our students build strong foundations for successful careers, but it also helps our island economy by strengthening workforce development.
What I’d like to share with you in this month’s column is the importance of clinical internships, meaning training programs in healthcare and mental health, internships that are conducted in real clinical settings right here in our local community. These clinical internship programs are crucial to island and state workforce development, for example, addressing the need for skilled, licensed professionals in the nursing, pharmacy, and psychology fields.
It’s important to note that without strong connections and partnerships with our local business and health sectors, clinical internships and our contribution to workforce development in these areas could not happen. It’s the symbiotic relationship between the university and the community that makes this possible.
At our School of Nursing, Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students do clinical rotations through different units in local facilities (ICU, ER, OB, etc.), building competence and finding the “right fit” for their career; community outreach and partnerships create the pipeline that aligns these students’ talents with actual community health needs.
Local hospitals use BSN clinicals to funnel students directly into nurse residency programs, serving as a primary mechanism to combat frontline nursing shortages. Outreach is also happening with community clinics, rural health centers, and public health departments. This helps direct future nurses where they are needed most.
The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program has a primary focus on building systems-level leadership and healthcare improvement. The student value of the hands-on component serves to prepare graduates in core Family Nurse Practitioner DNP with direct patient care where students diagnose, treat, and manage patients across the lifespan, building clinical competence and leadership readiness.
Further, our School of Nursing ensures our nursing curriculum evolves alongside changing industry demands, technology, and patient demographics primarily through our key community stakeholder relationships.
At our Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, clinical internships for our Doctor of Pharmacy students are the training grounds that prepare them for the real-world career of a pharmacist.
In their early years of the program, PharmD students immerse themselves in introductory pharmacy practice experiences, with the final year of the program focusing on advanced pharmacy practice experiences, including clinical rotations.
Community-based professionals who provide the clinical training, supervision, and guidance for these pharmacy students are cultivated through extensive outreach efforts. They serve as role models and mentors for our students, helping them to transform the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom into real life experiences that shape who they will be as future pharmacists.
In our Counseling Psychology master’s program, the practicum and internship experiences are where students learn in the real world how to apply the theoretical knowledge gained in the classroom to the actual practice of becoming and being competent mental health counselors.
This clinical learning takes place under the direct supervision of a licensed mental health professional that allows for students to utilize counseling skills with real life clients. Students are required by law to obtain a minimum of 300 direct client service hours across two semesters.
It has been a challenge to find a sufficient number of placement sites for all of our counseling psychology students (25-30 a year) due to several requirements for a site to be deemed appropriate as a practicum/internship site. To address these difficulties, the program has brought onboard a Practicum Development Specialist with good results; the hope is to make this position permanent.
We try to stay one step ahead on the needs of essential services and programs here locally; clinical internships for our students in these three fields — nursing, pharmacy, and counseling psychology — are of the upmost importance in our university’s response to the workforce needs of our island and state.
I will accompany representatives of these three UH Hilo programs, along with Kinesiology and Exercise Science, to the 2026 Hawaiʻi Island Healthcare Conference, October 14-15, where we have opportunity to meet with our workforce partners as we continue to build together healthy, thriving communities.
A big mahalo to all our community partners who are ensuring that our students’ clinical experiences are preparing them well for both their future careers and the health of our island and state.
Aloha,
Bonnie D. Irwin
Chancellor, UH Hilo
President-Elect, Hawaiʻi Island Chamber of Commerce
The Pacific West Conference is one of 23 NCAA Division II athletic conferences nationwide featuring member institutions across California and Hawaiʻi. The PacWest is committed to academic achievement, athletic excellence and community engagement. The conference sponsors all 12 of Vulcans Athletics sports: baseball, basketball (men’s and women’s), cross country (women’s), golf (men’s and women’s), soccer (men’s and women’s), softball, tennis (men’s and women’s) and volleyball (women’s).