 Hi everyone! My name is Tristen Hernandez. I am a region 12 intern from Los Angeles, California, and also part of the graduate program with the University of Rhode Island. I started my internship in the fall of 2024, and so far, I have completed my food service, clinical, and long-term care rotation.
Doing the graduate program and internship has been challenging but manageable if you keep organized with good time management skills. The assignments in the graduate program and internship have been really helpful in preparing me for the internship and making me feel confident in my interactions with patients and dietitians. My favorite rotation so far has been my clinical rotation. This is the longest rotation, with 16 weeks focusing on applying MNT in an acute care setting for a variety of medical conditions. I learned a lot from the dietitians at my site and am very appreciative of the guidance and knowledge that they shared. One experience I enjoyed during my clinical rotation was shadowing a wound care nurse. I was a little nervous at first to look at wounds from up close. However, this experience helped me gain a better understanding of what different stages of pressure injuries look like, and the role of nurses and nursing assistants in treating these wounds. The wound care nurse was also eager to learn about the role of dietitians in helping to heal these wounds. This is just one of the many experiences I got to observe during my clinical rotation. I highly recommend shadowing another specialty (nurses, speech therapists) or observing a clinical procedure (PEG/NGT placement) to gain a better understanding of the multidisciplinary team involved in patient care. Overall, I have been enjoying my internship. I am very grateful to the Sodexo team and community, as well as all my preceptors, for their support and guidance throughout this process. I have learned so much in just a few months, and I am excited to continue my internship journey!  Hi there! My name is Claudia, and I am currently in my Sodexo Dietetic Internship. So far, I have completed all my clinical rotations as well as my specialty rotation at my clinical site. My experience in this dietetic internship has been a ride to say the least. I remember when I was a baby intern, at the Sodexo Dietetic Internship orientation last fall in Maryland. I was nervous and suffering from a bit of imposter syndrome at the time. Do I deserve to be here? Am I smart or good enough? These were all questions I asked myself as I began my journey.
It wasn’t until a few weeks into my internship that I felt the worries dissipate. The Sodexo internship gave me an organized list of expectations and competencies I had to meet during my rotations. It was easy to work with my preceptors to address these areas and I felt prepared by the pre rotation assignments. Additionally, as a student of the combined master’s program, I felt that the subject matter I was learning in my internship was translated into my master’s coursework. I felt confident and prepared, and no subject matter looked foreign to me. The weeks flew by and each of my clinical rotations exposed me to new areas. I learned how to conduct nutrition assessments, provide nutrition diagnoses, as well as develop interventions. Fast forward to January 2025, I was just starting my critical care specialty rotation. Again, I was feeling nervous and not confident in myself as I took on a challenging area for development. The fear didn’t last long, and after a week, I felt back on my A game. The critical care rotation taught me a wealth of information and I appreciated the difference we as dietitians could make on a critical level to promote healing and recovery. Nutrition may not always be the most pertinent concern in the ICU; however I learned to communicate with the team effectively to ensure patients were receiving tube feeds as well as the correct rates and formulas. Since I was in the ICU for an extended period (5 weeks) I saw a lot of the same patients. I felt that my interventions made a difference as I watched these patients recover, become extubated, and return to a by mouth diet. Watching the difference I could make was rewarding. I would revisit some of these patients post extubation and collect subjective histories. I felt that at this time I got to know the patient even though I had seen them for several re assessments while they were intubated and sedated. This Sodexo internship allowed me to learn what it takes to be a clinical dietitian, especially one interested in working in the ICU. As I move into my next rotations, I welcome the variety of the dietitian profession. This internship has given me a hands-on experience with seeing the endless possibilities. It feels as if there is a specialty for everyone and in the internship, my exposure to multiple areas gives me flexibility as well as more opportunity while transitioning through my professional career.  The Sodexo Dietetic Internship
Calling all future RDNs! My name is Lauren Matheu and I am a Sodexo dietetic intern! The Sodexo Dietetic Internship has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career so far. Not only has it deepened my understanding of nutrition, but it’s also allowed me to explore the diverse opportunities within the field of dietetics. One of the highlights of this internship has been the foodservice rotation, where I had the chance to work on a dynamic retail marketing project. This project didn’t just teach me about foodservice operations; it gave me the chance to combine my skills in nutrition with creativity and data-driven strategies. A Unique Challenge During my foodservice rotation, I worked on a project aimed at increasing customer engagement and boosting purchases through a café app. The app is a key tool for customers to view menus, place orders, and interact with their dining experience. However, despite its functionality, customer engagement and purchase rate were lower than expected. The task was clear: find a way to make the app more engaging and increase the number of customers using it to make purchases. This was a challenge I was excited to take on, as it provided an opportunity to blend marketing, technology, and customer behavior into a strategic plan. The Strategy: Personalization and User Experience To tackle this challenge, I worked closely with the retail team to analyze user data and identify key areas for improvement. We realized not many people knew the café had an app to order ahead. We implemented a targeted promotion/raffle enticing individuals to download and make a purchase through the app. I created flyers with a QR code that directed the user to the app in the App Store. If they were able to download and make a purchase, they earned a ticket and were entered into the raffle. The grand prize was a free Starbucks coffee of their choice! The Results: A Success The impact of these changes was phenomenal. Over the course of 2 weeks, we saw a 150% increase in customer engagement! More users began to regularly interact with the app, taking advantage of personalized offers and enjoying a more streamlined user experience. The app became a huge part of the dining routine, and they were more likely to return. Even more impressive was the 120% increase in product purchases. With a more engaged customer base and an easier purchasing process, customers began making more frequent and larger orders. The results not only exceed expectations but also demonstrated the power of combining user-centered design with effective marketing. Reflecting on the Experience Looking back, this project was one of the most valuable learning experiences of my internship. It reinforced the idea that dietitians can have impact beyond just clinical nutrition. By understanding customer behavior and leveraging technology, we can influence food choices in meaningful ways. The Sodexo Dietetic Internship gave me the platform to explore nutrition and marketing, and I am excited to carry these skills forward in my career. This internship has been a great experience so far, and I am grateful for the chance to grow professionally and personally. If you are considering a dietetic internship, I highly recommend the Sodexo program. It is a unique opportunity to work in a diverse range of settings, push your boundaries, and make a real impact!  Hello fellow interns. My name is Beverly Ellis (previously Beverly Corry) from region 11 in Denver, Colorado. I received my masters in dietetics December 2023 from MSU Denver and started the Sodexo internship in February 2024. Before starting the internship, I worked as a restaurant manager overseeing 40+ people in a shift with 50-hour work weeks. As my internship nears the end, there are many adventures and experiences I feel sharing could help someone else.
This internship will put you to work. And in all the ways we need to truly understand what the field of dietetics really is all about. Sodexo does a phenomenal job at bringing to light several areas we could work in. My internship started with the Food Service Rotation – my wheelhouse! Even with all my years in the restaurant world, I quickly learned how different (and similar) managing a kitchen in a hospital could be. The management team was exceptional and tailored the experience to meet my skill sets. Next was clinicals. Everything about clinicals was new to me from the computer software to participating in rounds to charting on patients. Every day felt like I ran a marathon but, in the end, I could only be thankful for how much I learned each time I walked in! After clinicals came the LTC and specialty rotation, Senior Living. The times I spent in the assisted, independent and long-term care facilities were truly my favorite days. My previous thoughts of this population would be that they are sad and lonely and the site would be depressing. However, I was very wrong. Many of the residents were lovely to talk with (many, not all!) and curious about my work. Several were happy to have a chat about what they ate… except if it was bingo time. You’d have to find another time to discuss things with them. My biggest take aways and advice for those still working through the hours is as follows:
All in all, the experience is unmatchable. There were times I thought my head might explode or times I thought I wasn’t built for this but now that it’s near the end I can confidently say it has all been worth it!  Hi, everyone! My name is Andrea Walter. I am a region 1 intern with Sodexo and am a part of the GP program through URI. I currently live in York, ME and have been traveling to Massachusetts to complete my clinical rotation, which started this past September. I have completed patient services, basic clinical, and intermediate clinical. I was very nervous to start my clinical rotation as I had never worked in a hospital setting before. On my first day, the CNM came to greet me and introduced me to the nutrition staff as well as those who worked in the kitchen. Personally, I think it helped to be introduced to everyone right away so that I would be more apt for ask for help whenever I would need it. I remember at orientation one of our advisors stressed the importance of getting to know those working in the kitchen, I have been making a very strong effort to say hi each day, and to address them by name. They greet me every morning with a smile, it is comforting to know that they are welcoming of new people into their space!
The hospital I am currently placed at has a lower census than most, but this has given me time to really focus on the patients I have assigned each day and analyze how we can use MNT to help them through their conditions. Lately, I have been working on a lot of tube feeding and TPN orders. This has been super helpful to get hands on practice with real patients as opposed to case study patients. One difficulty we have been facing is that there is/was a TPN feed shortage due to the storms that happened in North Carolina a few months ago, which affected a major production plant. My day at the hospital typically starts around 9 AM, where I begin charting on patients due for the day until rounds at 10:30. Rounds can last anywhere from 30-60 minutes but are a great time to learn more about the patients’ day to day medical updates from the care team (MD’s, RNs, PT/OT). I typically return to the diet office to finish any charting before I go see my patients. Our conversations vary depending on if it is an initial assessment, follow up, trigger, or consult. I always go to my patients’ rooms prepared with questions written out that I need to ask to fully assess their nutrition status. I found that writing my questions beforehand helps to ensure that I won’t get overwhelmed or sidetracked with different topics, as some patients can be very chatty. After this, I typically have lunch and then finish charting my patients and then going over my work with my preceptor, where they can critique and offer suggestions on the plan of care. This usually brings me to the end of the day, about 4PM. I am currently in the process of planning for a specialty rotation as I have about 6 weeks left at my clinical site. I am excited to be able to pick something I am interested in to further my education in that topic and decide if I would like to pursue a career in it.  Hi everyone and future interns.
My name is Douglas Chironno. I received my Masters degree in Nutrition and Exercise from Queens College and I started my internship in the Fall of 2024, starting with my clinical rotation in a hospital setting. I wanted to share some tips I learned along the way that I think will be helpful for your in your clinical rotation. The pre assignments can be lengthly but well worth the preparation. They are a good tool to refresh on before each rotation, in many cases the timing was perfect…If you get a chance, don’t hesitate to review them right before you walk in the door. Another tip is to get familiar with your site’s ADIME note asap. The ADIME note is the way we organize information and communicate it with the other RDs and interdisciplinary teams. I found it helpful to make a blueprint of my sites ADIME note for reference. Once you have the note down and studied the pre assignment material, with help from your preceptor you’ll be ready for anything.  Pork-Chop the pig (whom we did our best to hide breakfast and lunch from) visited the Long Term Care Unit and put smiles on everyone’s faces, especially the residents. “This is one expressive pig,” the owner stated as we did the rounds. Residents who sometimes are quiet and withdrawn seemed to perk up and become lively as Pork-Chop snorted and asked for snacks.
Just like dogs have been recognized to be able to provide by organizations such as CMS- therapy, pigs can increase attention and awareness, create a sense of connection, and help uplift emotional ebbs and down points.[1] This is a very important therapeutic tool in environments such as this, as the National Institute on Aging reports that older adults have multiple potential risk factors for depression, such as lack of ability to manage self-care, social disconnectedness, and brain changes.[2] Depression also fuels chronic disease, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.[3] This makes it even more valuable, to utilize therapy animals of all kinds to uplift the emotions and positively stimulate the mind. Pork-Chop visits the LTC unit about 1-2 times per month, but it seems that the residents would love to see him more often, even though they can’t fully communicate that desire in many cases. Staff, family, and yours truly are all of the same thought, though- “what a pig!” I look forward to working with Pork-Chop again someday soon! [1]https://www.cms.gov/files/document/ltss-webinar-june-2024-unique-benefits-animal-assisted-therapy-individuals-long-term-care.pdf [2] https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/mental-and-emotional-health/depression-and-older-adults [3] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/chronic-illness-mental-health  Hello everyone, my name is Jennifer Contreras and I am a region 12 Sodexo intern. I am also a part of the GP program at the University of Rhode Island. I currently live in Southern California in a city just a few miles from Disneyland. I am in the beginning of my internship, but I would love to share with you all what I have experienced thus far.
I just finished my food service rotation and am currently finishing up my patient services rotation. At orientation I felt a little overwhelmed with all of the assignments that were due for the internship portion on top of the assignments due for the graduate program. I must admit that it is a lot of work, but if you can keep yourself well organized and on a good schedule, it is definitely manageable. On the first day of my food service rotation, I was very nervous. I left my house an extra hour early and was able to familiarize myself with the layout of the hospital. When I walked into the nutrition management office, I was greeted by all of the dietitian staff. They were very friendly and welcoming. This made a lot of my nerves go away. There were also two other interns at the hospital doing their food service rotations. I met them on the first day and they helped explain all of my duties and responsibilities. The food service manager was very organized and had all of our projects and assignments planned out ahead of time. I learned a lot from this rotation, and I am very happy with the hospital that I was placed at. On top of my foodservice projects, I was also able to help out with community outreach events. One event I went to was the Carson’s Women’s Health Event. I went with other dietitians from the hospital, and we had a booth with informational pamphlets about nutrition for cancer, portion sizes, and everyday nutrition. We also gave out plant-based recipe cards that were made by each of the dietitians from the hospital. It was an amazing event, and it was very neat to see the dietitians at work making a difference within the community. The women who attended the event loved our table. Overall, I am enjoying the internship experience. It definitely is a lot of work, but you are learning so much. I absolutely love the hospital I was placed at, and the manager of food and nutrition services is a great mentor with a lot of knowledge.  Hi everyone! My name is Lauren Charlton. I am a dietetic intern based in St Augustine, Florida, but originally from England. I started my internship in the Fall of 2024 and started with my clinical rotation in the hospital.
I don’t have one specific event to write about; because the entirety of the experience is what has been positive for me. Going into my clinical rotations, I wasn’t too optimistic as I have always found the acute care work daunting since the patients are often quite sick. However, within the first couple of weeks, I was feeling much more confident than I thought I would be by the end of the entire rotation. The preceptors were excellent in guiding me through the process and allowing me to slowly build up my skills. Ultimately, I came to realize, that it is “just” nutrition at the end of the day, and whether the patient has got multiple chronic conditions, or acute onset disease; the same principles apply. Building confidence in myself allowed the patients to trust me more and open up in our discussions. Over multiple consultations, I found an almost methodical pattern to my work which allowed me to actively listen to the patient rather than worrying about my next step. Over time, I have become familiar with different medications that may have interactions with nutrition, or certain diagnostic procedures that require NPO or certain diets. The most important thing to remember is that behind all the lab results and medical history, all the patients are real people, with real feelings, and listening to their concerns, and adjusting my advice to their preferences is the best way to ensure longer term adherence to interventions and ultimately better outcomes. I still have my remaining rotations to complete in FSM, community and specialty. However, I have already gained so much knowledge in the weeks I have completed. Learning about a health system in a new country, whilst consolidating my MNT skills has definitely pushed me outside my comfort zone on a daily basis, but it has helped improve my confidence and problem solving skills. I am really looking forward to my specialty rotation, as it is an area in which I am extremely passionate about; but I think the basic clinical skills have given me a strong foundation. I am extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to complete my internship with Sodexo and the support provided from both the preceptors and Sodexo DI team online.  Hi everyone! My name is Katie Whitmore, I am a region 1 intern from Westford, Massachusetts. I just started my internship in September 2024 and started with my clinical rotations in New Hampshire. Before starting the internship, I was nervous due to it being fast paced and I had not had much hospital experience before. However, even though I am only just entering my fourth week now, I feel much more confident and comfortable working alongside the dietitians with great support. Not only are the preceptors at my site very helpful, but the support system amongst the Sodexo community is also great as well, creating a supportive community.
At my clinical site, I have been able to learn a lot already in just this short time I have been there. I am able to work alongside other dietitians to practice MNT and work directly with patients and other health care professionals as well. Real life practice and creating connections in the workplace is so important and I have loved learning this so far and being a part of the team of dietitians. My preceptors have been helpful with answering questions I have and helping me with navigating through the first few weeks. Additionally, I have gained new insights into working with all different types of patients of different conditions. It has also been very rewarding so far, and it has felt good to know how much of an impact we are making with the patient directly, and with the team of providers as a whole and to the hospital. The patients are very appreciative and are happy for what we do, which feels very rewarding each day! This has allowed me to understand the importance of nutrition in a hospital setting and how important it is for their recovery. The next rotation I will have is my specialty rotation, where we get to choose which specialty we do our rotation in. There are so many opportunities to choose from, or we even have the option to get creative and create our own. This is great to see what area we are interested in, and to gain a deeper insight on what that area entails. I am grateful for my experiences so far and after already learning so much, I am so excited to continue to see what the rest of the rotations have to offer! |