Samantha Sycalik - Region 5

Hello everyone! My name is Sam Sycalik and I’m a region 5 Sodexo dietetic intern and URI graduate student studying nutrition science. I live in Gaithersburg, MD and am over halfway through the Sodexo-URI Future Education Model Graduate Program. It goes by so fast! I’m excited to share some of my highlighted experiences so far during the internship with you all.  
 
I started out with food service and got a lot of experience working in a hospital kitchen and with the food service department at a local hospital in Rockville, MD. I got close with the kitchen staff and enjoyed an inside-look into how the kitchen, tray line, and management teams operate within the hospital setting. I then started my clinical rotation, which lasted approximately four months. I absolutely LOVED clinical and got exposure to a wide range of diseased states, patient demographics, and most of all got very comfortable calculating tube feedings and parenteral nutrition orders. I got to work closely with the interdisciplinary team and even got to attend oncology rounds during my staff relief rotation! My preceptors were so helpful and willing to answer all of my questions. They also provided me with lots of interesting and fun cases to work on. I got very accustomed to my clinical routine and was sad when it came to an end. I especially enjoyed the staff relief rotation as I got to work independently covering 2 units at the hospital, one being the oncology unit.
 
I have now completed my long-term care rotation, which was only one week. Although this rotation was short, it showed me care beyond the hospital setting, which I truly appreciated. I even got to do a follow up on a resident I was able to assess during my clinical rotation at the hospital! This internship is flying by, and I am both excited and sad for it to eventually come to an end in the next couple of months. I’m most excited to start my specialty rotation in pediatrics at Children’s National Hospital this coming April. I’m very grateful for the experiences I’ve gained. The biggest things this internship has taught me so far includes optimizing time management, prioritizing workload, and the importance of optimizing your learning experience and leaning into the resources you have available. Real-life practice is much different and more complex than what we learn in textbooks and from case studies, so learning to use your own clinical/professional judgment is essential in this field. 

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