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