Hi everyone!
My name is Melissa Chesek and I am a region 4 Sodexo dietetic intern in New Jersey. I am finishing up my Advanced Clinical Rotation at Saint Barnabas Medical Center (SBMC) in Livingston, NJ and will then continue here for an additional 7 weeks of Critical Care MNT. Two of which I will spend in NJ’s only burn center here at SBMC.
Since my clinical site is a 577-bed hospital, I have seen an extremely wide variety of patients with varying medical conditions and differing MNT needs. In addition, having the chance to work with 10 full-time and per diem RDs has given me the opportunity to learn from many different points of view with varying years of experience and backgrounds in the dietetics field. Everyone does everything a little bit differently and has their own area of specialty (cardiac, nutrition support, burns, pediatrics, oncology, etc.), so I am always learning something new.
During my clinical rotation, I had the opportunity to spend a week with the transplant RD and shadow potential kidney transplant patients during their meetings with the doctor, social worker, nurse, and dietitian. I also spent two weeks at Fresenius Kidney Care. Prior to going to a dialysis center, I was nervous to educate dialysis patients and felt overwhelmed when reviewing their labs. However, after being there for two weeks I gained a much better understanding of the significance of nutrition related labs for a dialysis patient, how dialysis worked, and overall felt more comfortable with providing nutrition education to patients when I returned to the hospital. Throughout my time in dialysis with the RD, I reviewed labs with the patients one-on-one, conducted nutrition assessments, worked with the RD to adjust medications, and provided nutrition education to patients on a renal diet depending on their nutrition-related lab values.
My advice to incoming interns—go into every day with a readiness to learn and don’t be afraid to ask questions or look something up that you are not familiar with! You aren’t expected to go into the internship knowing every diagnosis and its MNT. I continue to look things up daily to ensure that I am making the appropriate nutrition recommendations to patients and expanding my knowledge. The internship is a huge learning experience and you really become an important part of the interdisciplinary team. You will look back and be amazed at how much more you know now than when you started. At one point in time, your preceptor was in your shoes. They encourage you to ask questions! Have an open mind and absorb everything!
My name is Melissa Chesek and I am a region 4 Sodexo dietetic intern in New Jersey. I am finishing up my Advanced Clinical Rotation at Saint Barnabas Medical Center (SBMC) in Livingston, NJ and will then continue here for an additional 7 weeks of Critical Care MNT. Two of which I will spend in NJ’s only burn center here at SBMC.
Since my clinical site is a 577-bed hospital, I have seen an extremely wide variety of patients with varying medical conditions and differing MNT needs. In addition, having the chance to work with 10 full-time and per diem RDs has given me the opportunity to learn from many different points of view with varying years of experience and backgrounds in the dietetics field. Everyone does everything a little bit differently and has their own area of specialty (cardiac, nutrition support, burns, pediatrics, oncology, etc.), so I am always learning something new.
During my clinical rotation, I had the opportunity to spend a week with the transplant RD and shadow potential kidney transplant patients during their meetings with the doctor, social worker, nurse, and dietitian. I also spent two weeks at Fresenius Kidney Care. Prior to going to a dialysis center, I was nervous to educate dialysis patients and felt overwhelmed when reviewing their labs. However, after being there for two weeks I gained a much better understanding of the significance of nutrition related labs for a dialysis patient, how dialysis worked, and overall felt more comfortable with providing nutrition education to patients when I returned to the hospital. Throughout my time in dialysis with the RD, I reviewed labs with the patients one-on-one, conducted nutrition assessments, worked with the RD to adjust medications, and provided nutrition education to patients on a renal diet depending on their nutrition-related lab values.
My advice to incoming interns—go into every day with a readiness to learn and don’t be afraid to ask questions or look something up that you are not familiar with! You aren’t expected to go into the internship knowing every diagnosis and its MNT. I continue to look things up daily to ensure that I am making the appropriate nutrition recommendations to patients and expanding my knowledge. The internship is a huge learning experience and you really become an important part of the interdisciplinary team. You will look back and be amazed at how much more you know now than when you started. At one point in time, your preceptor was in your shoes. They encourage you to ask questions! Have an open mind and absorb everything!
