Kimberly Yuen - Region 3

Hi, my name is Kimberly and I’m a dietetic intern from Region 3 NY! I have just completed my Advanced Clinical Rotation and I can’t believe three months have already gone by.  At the start of my internship I was super nervous about the clinical rotation but my preceptors have all been amazing in guiding me through this process. I’m about to start two weeks of Staff Relief and I feel so much more confident with my nutrition assessments and patient interactions than I did a few months ago. Going into this internship I did have past experience of being a DTR to help provide a foundation for my clinical rotation. But honestly, even if you no prior work experience in a clinical setting the Sodexo preceptors have been wonderful at explaining things I’m unfamiliar with and helping me with whatever I need.
 
These past four weeks I have been in the ICU, and it’s been a wild ride. One day I saw a patient for a routine nutrition assessment and then the next day they were transferred to the ICU and placed on mechanical ventilation. It’s one thing to do a case study on intubated patients and another to actually provide the recommendations to the care team. It’s been a wonderful learning experience and I have become so much more confident with tube feeding orders. There was a really interesting patient I had recently who had a few food allergies and instead of giving them a standard formula for their tube feeding we had to special order another product to meet their needs.
 
My advice for those who are nervous about beginning their clinical rotation would be to go with the flow! Every day is a little different but that’s what makes it so exciting. You’re not going to know everything and that’s ok. You’re there to learn and your preceptors will help you every step of the way. Be willing to step out of your comfort zone and when you do that’s when you’ll get the most out of your experience. My clinical nutrition manager saw how much I loved interacting with patients and asked me to present during a health fair. She let me do whatever I wanted and even though I was nervous it become a memorable experience. So show up with a good attitude and you’ll never know where it will take you!

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