Hi dietetic interns! I would like to share a bit about myself and, for current and future interns, why the dietetic internship is NOT that scary!
My name is Brooke VanMeter, and I am currently interning at Union Memorial Hospital as well as Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, MD. When I began this journey in September, I was apprehensive. Like, nervous for a chemistry final, but not knowing when the chemistry final was going to happen, apprehensive. I had just moved close to Baltimore from a small town a few hours away and had no idea what the internship was going to hold for me. Although my primary area of interest is clinical, my first rotation was food service. Note: I have never actually worked in food service. So, I drive into Baltimore on my first day, park in the wrong parking garage, and get to the hospital with spilled coffee on my sweater. My preceptor finds me in the lobby, shows me the dietitians’ offices, leads me to the kitchen, and introduces me to the kitchen staff, chefs, and managers. By the end of my first day, the cloud of mystery and anxiety about my foodservice rotation, and the internship in general, faded.
As I began to understand foodservice, I found that I enjoyed assisting the chefs prepare meals, taking inventory, observing purchasing, managing receiving, checking temperatures and portions, and leading in-service meetings. From production to retail, I discovered my role in the kitchen and as an intern. When I needed a manager’s assistance in completing a competency, answering a question, or signing a RAEF, they were happy to accommodate me in what I needed achieve. Although I went into the foodservice rotation nervous and unsure, I finished confident, self-directed, and having transitioned from a learner to a doer. I feel that no matter where my profession takes me, the foodservice rotation showed me how to take initiative, be confident even in new situations, and embrace the unfamiliar.
My name is Brooke VanMeter, and I am currently interning at Union Memorial Hospital as well as Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, MD. When I began this journey in September, I was apprehensive. Like, nervous for a chemistry final, but not knowing when the chemistry final was going to happen, apprehensive. I had just moved close to Baltimore from a small town a few hours away and had no idea what the internship was going to hold for me. Although my primary area of interest is clinical, my first rotation was food service. Note: I have never actually worked in food service. So, I drive into Baltimore on my first day, park in the wrong parking garage, and get to the hospital with spilled coffee on my sweater. My preceptor finds me in the lobby, shows me the dietitians’ offices, leads me to the kitchen, and introduces me to the kitchen staff, chefs, and managers. By the end of my first day, the cloud of mystery and anxiety about my foodservice rotation, and the internship in general, faded.
As I began to understand foodservice, I found that I enjoyed assisting the chefs prepare meals, taking inventory, observing purchasing, managing receiving, checking temperatures and portions, and leading in-service meetings. From production to retail, I discovered my role in the kitchen and as an intern. When I needed a manager’s assistance in completing a competency, answering a question, or signing a RAEF, they were happy to accommodate me in what I needed achieve. Although I went into the foodservice rotation nervous and unsure, I finished confident, self-directed, and having transitioned from a learner to a doer. I feel that no matter where my profession takes me, the foodservice rotation showed me how to take initiative, be confident even in new situations, and embrace the unfamiliar.
