​Hello interns! My name is Nicole and I am currently finishing up my advanced clinical rotation and getting ready to start my concentration in critical care at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction, Colorado! I have been in the clinical setting for the entire internship thus far, and I have learned and experienced so much! I am learning something new every single day as I come closer-and-closer to becoming a registered dietitian!
 
Thus far in clinical, I’ve had the opportunity to shadow the pharmacists, respiratory therapists, wound care team, speech therapy and interventional radiology. In addition, I’ve had the opportunity to sit in on several NG tube, GJ tube, and PEG tube placements, FEES swallow exams, a tracheostomy, a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), PICC line placement, and many others! So far, my favorite experience outside of the dietetics practice is being able to spend a day with the pharmacy team as they compounded TPN admixtures. This was such an interesting learning experience! In addition, a few months ago I had the privilege of giving a continuing medical education (CME) presentation on nutrition in the critical care setting to physicians. This was extremely nerve-racking because not only was I giving a presentation to a room full of doctors and physicians, but I was also on a live webinar for other hospitals to view throughout the state of Colorado!
 
I have been working with outpatient dietitians once a week, as well, toward my community nutrition rotation hours. I’ve spent several days with a dietitian in Grand Junction who specializes in eating disorders. This has been truly eye-opening, and this is definitely where I see myself in the future. In addition, she runs her own business on the side, which is also an area of interest for me. I have learned so much from her already! I have also worked with a certified diabetes educator (CDE) and was able to give a type 1 diabetes education to a father and his 6-year-old girl who was recently diagnosed with T1DM.
 
Throughout my clinical, I’ve struggled with my self confidence. Being the only intern in a room full of experienced dietitians is tough, and I find myself feeling disheartened because I still need to look things up all the time. My best piece of advice for someone entering their clinical rotations is to never be afraid to look things up. I probably look things up at least 5 times a day, and I’ve been in clinical for several months! Always approach things with confidence and remind yourself that the internship is a time to LEARN and GROW. If we were expected to know everything before the internship, then we wouldn’t be required to do the internship! Take full advantage of the opportunities you’re given, even if they make you nervous or they’re out of your comfort zone! The only way to truly grow as a professional is to step out of your comfort zone and eventually your comfort zone will grow larger and larger.

Hi everyone! My name is Kim Perkins and I am a region 4 Philadelphia-based intern. I can’t believe I’m already months into the internship when I remember being at orientation not that long ago. I didn’t think that it would, but the internship is really flying by! I’ve learned so many things within these past couple of months and have already formed so many relationships with dietitians and other clinical professionals. So far, I’ve completed my long-term care, patient services, and clinical rotations. Each one has given me so much insight and different experiences on how to care for patients. During my clinical rotation, I had the opportunity to view a swallowing evaluation. It was nice to see how the RD and the rest of the clinical team worked together to make sure the patient received adequate nutrition and care throughout their hospital admission. Following up with patients was my favorite part of clinical because it gave me the opportunity to see how effective my nutrition recommendations were. This was sometimes challenging, but it enhanced my critical thinking skills to better address the needs of the patients.

Right now, I am currently in the middle of my foodservice rotation at Wilmington Trust Bank in Wilmington, DE.  Having six years of food service experience, I felt pretty confident going into this rotation. They wasted no time putting me right to work! Here, I’m making assorted muffins for the cafeteria (that’s Guillermo in the background), lol. What I like most about this facility is that everyone is cross trained on every station, which is great when it gets busy so everyone can jump in wherever necessary to take care of the customers.  The staff is familiar enough with the customers that they know what they are going to order as soon as they walk up to the counter. This demonstrates the level of caring service they provide each and every day, and I’m so glad to be a part of it. They have a program called “Wellness Wednesdays” where they feature one of Sodexo’s Mindful entrees, and I interact and educate the customers about the meal of the week. I love answering their questions because it increases their knowledge of the importance of healthy eating, and most times leads to other nutrition related dialogue, keeping me on toes to stay informed on trending nutrition topics.
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I feel like I’ve completed quite a bit so far, but I can’t wait to see what the remainder of the internship has in store!

My name is Justine McGrew and I am a region 6 intern based in Atlanta, GA. I have recently wrapped up my clinical rotation at Augusta University Medical Center (AUMC) in Augusta, GA. Although the location was far from my home, I am so appreciative for my experience at this large teaching hospital.

At first, the 600+ bed hospital was intimidating to me, but I realized the teaching hospital atmosphere is much different than any other hospital I had previously set foot in. I quickly became comfortable as I realized the doctors and nurses are used to helping students and answering their questions. Completing my rotation at AUMC exposed me to a variety of various disease states I may not have seen at a smaller facility.

I shadowed several ICU RDs for a total of seven weeks, which included attending interdisciplinary rounds. Many of the attending physicians look to the ICU RDs for their nutrition advice and expertise, which was reassuring to see. It feels great to be able to offer guidance and be a part of a patients’ plan of care.

Throughout my rotations, I developed a strong interest in nutrition support. Being able to feed patients who cannot feed themselves is empowering, and selecting the most appropriate formula and calculating rates of infusion to meet a patient’s nutrient needs is a fun puzzle to piece together.

During my rotation at AUMC, I have worked alongside seven different RDs. It was interesting (and, yes, sometimes frustrating!) to see the different ways each RD worked and adapting to their individual style. They all had drastically different patient populations (ICU, trauma, bone marrow transplant, cardiac, neuro, etc.) and different ways of charting as well. Through the struggles, I developed my own unique preferences and style of charting in the patient medical record.

One of my favorite things about my clinical rotation was attending dinner presentations with fellow RDs and the AUMC dietetic interns. It was not only a way to learn, but a way to network with RDs and other medical professionals already working in the nutrition field. Through these dinner presentations, I learned about IDPN, blenderized tube feed diets, and pancreatic insufficiency, among other fascinating topics (and I got to eat delicious, free dinners at some amazing restaurants!). All jokes aside, I also learned about the vast opportunities that exist for RDs outside of the clinical world.

My next stop is Meal on Wheels Atlanta for my food service management/community rotation. I am sure I will be just as surprised by this upcoming rotation as I was with clinical. For all prospective/incoming interns, stay positive and open minded, do not be afraid to ask questions or be wrong. Remember, you are an intern and you are there to learn!

Hi! Sam here, a Sodexo dietetic intern based in New York City (region 3). My biggest highlight from my internship so far has been working in my “Concentration Rotation.” I chose the Leadership Concentration, which gives interns the freedom to dream up their own project and dedicate 232 hours to it. I focused on my two favorite things––cooking and mindfulness! My experience with cooking comes from my work as a former community chef with the Sylvia Center leading after-school cooking programs for middle school students. I am also a certified yoga instructor with experience leading group yoga and mindfulness classes. 
 
Mindfulness, to me, is the ability to be fully present in the moment and accept all the thoughts and feelings that arise without judgement. I combined my two skill sets as a chef and yoga instructor to develop mindfulness exercises to be used during the after-school cooking program. Sylvia Center has about twelve chef instructors and chef assistants, and I wanted to create tools for them to introduce calm, focus, and concentration to their classes. I started by creating a Roadmap, which was a detailed timeline that including goals and projects to complete. 
 
To learn more about mindfulness, I spent eight days at Kula Kamala Foundation & Yoga Ashram.  Kula engaged me in a silent retreat, three meditation sessions per day, and assigned me a stack of books to read. I learned new ways to practice mindfulness through breathwork, meditation and movement-based activities. I walked away with a stronger meditation practice and the skills to create the mindfulness curriculum for the Sylvia Center!
 
Next, I created a number of mindfulness activities and would visit a cooking class weekly to test them out with the students. Working as a community chef, it is so important to keep the students calm and focused to best absorb the nutrition education and practice safe knife skills.  Next, I got to work creating the resources the chefs would need to lead mindfulness activities themselves! I created instructional videos and educational materials. My final project was leading an all staff training (~20 people) for the Sylvia Center. The training was crucial in giving the chefs the skills to incorporate mindfulness into their cooking classes.
 
I am so thankful Sodexo gave me the opportunity to gain more training in mindfulness. As a future Registered Dietitian, I look forward to sharing these stress-reducing and calm-enhancing activities with my patients! If you want to try out some of my mindfulness exercises check out my YouTube videos! Connect with me on Instagram @sazmoll.

​Hello everybody! My name is Olivia Minardi and I am a region 2 intern. I am currently three days away from completing my CNM rotation at Signature Healthcare Hospital in Brockton, MA. One week ago, I was finishing up my clinical rotation and it is unfathomable how fast time has flown through this whole experience!
 
I have been very fortunate to work with who I believe are the best preceptors out there! I was extremely nervous starting clinical as I had no prior experience in a hospital. My preceptors gave me the confidence to talk to patients and realize the amount of knowledge I possess. This confidence led me to completing most of my advanced clinical and staff relief in the critical care unit. I attended rounds every day with the hospital intensivist, medical residents, nurses, and pharmacists, where I conversed with the medical team and made recommendations for EN, TPN, and other dietary needs. A cool opportunity I had this week was being able to spend time on the maternity floor completing a tracer with the CNM to ensure the hospital is providing quality and safe care to the patients. The RDs at the hospital rarely work with patients on the maternity floor, so this was an exciting opportunity to work on a new floor that I have been wishing to spend some time on.
 
My favorite part so far has been talking to patients and being a positive voice in their day. It can be intimidating to talk to patients at first, but in most situations, you will be the least intimidating practice to come into their rooms, because who doesn’t love to talk about food! My advice is to stay positive, personable, and to not take any negative comments personally from patients as they are going through a tough time. Be the face that makes others love our profession and value our advice! 

Hello! My name is Jenn Melanson, and I am a region 4 intern in Montclair, NJ. It feels like just yesterday that I was reading through these posts while anxiously awaiting the start of the internship, and now I’m almost halfway done!
 
I started my rotations with food service management at Realogy in Madison, NJ. It was a nice entry into the internship, and I was able to learn a tremendous amount about the management side of food service. One of my favorite projects was participating in the company health fair just one week into my rotation. I was tasked with creating the table from concept to implementation. I chose to promote whole grains with a “Whole Grains for the Whole Body” theme. I prepared and served a sample of a farro salad for 200 participants and created interactive games to engage people. It was a great way to start the rotation!
 
I am currently in my intermediate clinical rotation at Mountainside Medical Center and am really enjoying it. As many have said, it’s amazing how much you learn in such a short amount of time. There was a period when I couldn’t imagine being able to see as many patients as I am now. One of the aspects I love about my clinical rotation is that every day is an opportunity to see new things, and I love the challenge of working through a complex case. I am becoming increasingly confident in my clinical judgment, and I am really looking forward to starting my advanced clinical rotation soon.
 
What drew me to the Sodexo dietetic internship is its individualized nature, and I continue to appreciate the ability to make this into an internship best suited for me. My advice for future interns is to take advantage of the many opportunities afforded to you. I have seen in my own rotations that you get out of this internship as much as you put into it. Push yourself with new cases and get out of your comfort zone. Get involved and network; you never know what doors may open for other rotations or your future career!

Hi everyone! My name is Laura Monto and I am an intern in region 4 in Pennsylvania. I am from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. I graduated from West Chester University with my bachelor’s degree and am working on my master’s currently as well. I just finished up my clinical rotation this week and it has been quite a journey. I started out at large hospital for my clinical rotation. It has about 700 beds or more. I got lost a few times, but eventually learned my way around. There were a total of 14 other dietitians there, and they had quite a heavy workload with many consultations, follow-ups, and ADIME reports due daily. I learned so much about myself and what I am looking for in my future career from my time there.
 
Starting this internship, I thought that I was going to love clinical and would want to do my concertation in clinical as well, but to my surprise, I had different feelings. I was about halfway through intermediate and I was really just having a hard time enjoying it. It was so busy and fast-paced, it was hard for me to take the time to even comprehend what was going on. Luckily, one of the dietitians noticed that I was stressed out and we worked out a different plan for me. We decided it was best for me to go to a different location because this was not the best setting for me. I had a hard time accepting this as first because I thought I was failing. I soon realized that I needed to do what was best for me and do what I enjoyed. I then went to some different location like a rehab center and did more long-term care and really enjoyed those experiences. I realized that I love to connect with patients and residents and to be able to see the impact that I have on them, instead of just seeing them one time and never seeing them again.
 
I would have never expected this to happen, but this really made me grow as a person and learn to just take things as they come. You have to deal with the bad sometimes in order to reach the good. I am now getting ready for my food service rotation and can’t wait for that. I have been working in food service for about 5 years now, so I am no stranger to how it works. It will be fun to see what this rotation brings. Some advice that I would give would be:

1. Take a deep breath- Everything will be okay!
2. Have FUN!- Don’t take yourself to seriously, if you mess up, count it as a learning experience.
3. Take it day by day- Don’t look ahead to far or you will freak yourself out! There is time for everything!

​I had the pleasure of completing my food service rotation at Disneyland! I had worked in smaller food service settings before, but nothing compared to this. Working in a large-scale food production was one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve ever had.
 
One of the projects I worked on while I was there was attempting to reduce food waste in Cast Member dining services. I was able to implement my recommendations on how to specifically reduce meatball waste, and after just one week of implementation, average waste cut down by half. Completing this project further developed my critical thinking and problem-solving skills. I had to be timely and efficient since this was affecting sales. They still use my recommendations to this day! 

Hi, my name is Julie and I am lucky enough to complete my dietetic internship in the beautiful state of Colorado where I was born and raised. Like my previous career, building relationships is an important part of the internship. As l near the half-way mark, I am understanding how important relationships are with the interdisciplinary teams in all my rotations. I have been impressed not only with my preceptors, but with the other teams at Rose Medical who are not directly involved in my training, and how willing they are to invest in developing students and interns.
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Recently, I had the opportunity to observe bariatric surgeries. I don’t know if I was more nervous for the surgeries or intruding on the surgical team. I was grateful for how they were all taking time to ensure I was learning as much as possible from the experience. I had similar experiences from the wound care team, nursing staff, and even the outpatient bariatric and nutrition support dietitians.

I found this same level of engagement outside of the clinical setting. During my food service rotation, the entire Sodexo team at University of Denver embraced my role and supported me with their valuable time to ensure my projects would be successful. Along the way, each one of them imparted knowledge on me that has added to my development.

It can be very intimidating to drive relationships with the interdisciplinary teams when you are the ‘newbie’ and are only there for a short time. It may seem easier to stay close to the preceptors and those directly involved in your training. However, if you did, you would be significantly limiting the experience and knowledge needed to be successful in your future career.

I have found the best way to engage with others, especially when you feel unfamiliar or less experienced, is to ask a lot of questions. These questions do not have to be overly insightful or necessary for your development but can simply be used to understand the person and their role better. These individuals have developed the skills to be an expert in their field and often appreciate the opportunity to share the knowledge they have worked so hard for.
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By engaging with the interdisciplinary teams in all rotations, interns are developing themselves to be well-rounded dietitians no matter what specialty they land in. Thank you to all who have imparted their time, expertise and passion on myself and other interns, you are truly making a difference.

​Hey y’all! My name is Holly Moye and I am a Sodexo dietetic intern out of San Diego, CA (Region 12). What an awesome experience the internship has been so far completing my food service management and community rotations!
 
I have most recently completed my community rotation, where I had several different amazing experiences. I have had the opportunity to intern at community health centers, with a bariatric dietitian, in a gym, school cafeterias, long term care facilities, and at the Naval Medical Hospital.
 
My biggest piece of advice is to reach out to anyone who you are curious to learn from or can offer value to – whether that is an RD, a health center, a bariatric dietitian, or even a gym! You will never have the opportunity to be involved in so many different settings as easily as you will be able to as an intern, and you will learn so much from the variety of settings.