Hello! My name is Chris Walder and I am a current intern with Sodexo in Philadelphia. I just finished my clinical rotation at Capital Health in Trenton and Hopewell, New Jersey and am now starting my food service rotation at GlaxoSmithKline in Philadelphia. As an intern at Capital health I had the opportunity to work at two uniquely different campuses. At the campus in Trenton I was exposed to a lot of trauma patients, while the majority of the patients at the Hopewell campus were cancer, bariatric, and geriatric patients. I will always be grateful of my time at Capital Health and to all the great dietitians I have had the pleasure to lean from so far.
My concentration during my clinical rotation was medical nutrition therapy. I enjoy working in this area because of the growing and changing evidence in the use of nutrition support with critically ill patients. After my internship I hope to take on a position as a clinical dietitian and continue to work in nutrition support. Besides working in the clinical setting, it has always been a goal of mine to pursue the military. To achieve this goal I plan to pursue a career in the Army Reserve and work in military dietetics.
I feel I can offer a few key pointers that have brought me success as an intern. The first of these is time management. Being able to understand what I need to do to complete assignments and additional tasks, then prioritizing them in an efficient way has definitely made this internship much less stressful than it could be. A second pointer would be to ask questions. The phrase “no question is a bad question” definitely applies to this internship. Any time I could not figure something out or could not find it on my own, someone, whether it was a preceptor or internship advisor, would point me in the right direction. Additionally, many of my experiences came from asking questions. If I hadn’t asked, I would not have observed surgeries, participated in educational cooking classes, or spent time in a University setting. My final pointer would be to have fun! This internship is not supposed to be torture and we are allowed to still enjoy ourselves. Being able to go out every once in awhile and even keep up with hobbies has been a great way wind down, clear my mind, and even blow off some steam. Each of these factors have contributed to my success as an intern by reducing stress and exposing me to many amazing opportunities.
My concentration during my clinical rotation was medical nutrition therapy. I enjoy working in this area because of the growing and changing evidence in the use of nutrition support with critically ill patients. After my internship I hope to take on a position as a clinical dietitian and continue to work in nutrition support. Besides working in the clinical setting, it has always been a goal of mine to pursue the military. To achieve this goal I plan to pursue a career in the Army Reserve and work in military dietetics.
I feel I can offer a few key pointers that have brought me success as an intern. The first of these is time management. Being able to understand what I need to do to complete assignments and additional tasks, then prioritizing them in an efficient way has definitely made this internship much less stressful than it could be. A second pointer would be to ask questions. The phrase “no question is a bad question” definitely applies to this internship. Any time I could not figure something out or could not find it on my own, someone, whether it was a preceptor or internship advisor, would point me in the right direction. Additionally, many of my experiences came from asking questions. If I hadn’t asked, I would not have observed surgeries, participated in educational cooking classes, or spent time in a University setting. My final pointer would be to have fun! This internship is not supposed to be torture and we are allowed to still enjoy ourselves. Being able to go out every once in awhile and even keep up with hobbies has been a great way wind down, clear my mind, and even blow off some steam. Each of these factors have contributed to my success as an intern by reducing stress and exposing me to many amazing opportunities.
