Disheartened intern took care of it as planned (8)
I believe the answer is:
intended
'planned' is the definition.
(intending is a kind of planning)
'disheartened intern took care of' is the wordplay.
'disheartened' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (the middle or heart is removed).
'took care of' becomes 'tended' (tending is a kind of taking care of).
'intern' with its middle taken out is 'in'.
'in'+'tended'='INTENDED'
'it as' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for intended that I've seen before include "One about to join union" , "Fianc(e) - proposed" , "wanted from the outset" , "Deliberate" , "Planned, meant to" .)