Hi everyone! My name is Francesca Powers and I am a Region 3 (NY) intern. I have just begun my LTC rotation at Peconic Bay Medical Center. Up to this point, I have completed all of my clinical hours at this hospital as well as some community experiences. I am looking forward to the opportunity to complete my food service and concentration hours here, too! Needless to say, my experience at Peconic Bay has been extremely fulfilling. The dietitians welcomed me with open arms and made me feel so comfortable right from the beginning. They reassured me that they, too, were in my shoes once. It is a time for learning, growing, and succeeding.
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While at the hospital, it all became real. All of the knowledge I had learned in school was applied day one. I’ve kept my handy-dandy notebook in my pocket with references, resources and space to write down what I do every day. It allows me to reflect back on what I’ve done and research things that might not have been clear. It is now a valuable resource that I can refer to not only while studying for the exam, but in my future practice.

Just a few examples of some exciting opportunities I have been given include formulating a personalized TPN solution for a critically ill patient alongside a pharmacist, daily NFPE on patients with malnutrition, and even observing a Modified Barium Swallow with a speech language pathologist.

One of my favorite aspects of the Food and Nutrition program at this hospital is how involved in the community they are. There are “Teaching Kitchen” and “Lunch and Learn” classes every two weeks, available to not only staff at the hospital, but adults in the local community and group homes. These classes include nutrition-related topics as well as recipe demonstrations and sampling. I started off just assisting in the beginning but have now been given the opportunity to implement and present some of my own ideas and recipes at these classes!

Additionally, the hospital provides cardiac rehab to those individuals who have recently had a heart-related medical event such as a heart attack. After physical rehab, nutrition education follows. I am now teaching the cardiac nutrition classes for the program all on my own – another great accomplishment!

These community nutrition classes have given me the opportunity to gain confidence and work on my presentation skills almost weekly. Something I was once felt weak at, has now turned into my favorite part of the day!

The take away: Accept every opportunity presented to you. If it seems scary – do it! You will be so proud once you see what you’re capable of. Keep an open mind – just because you’re in your clinical rotation, doesn’t mean you have to turn down community opportunities. It may seem difficult to balance everything at once, but I promise, if you stay organized and prioritize your work, it will all get done! Stay positive, work hard, and enjoy the experience!

Hello everyone, my name is Leslie Kohut and I was lucky enough to have completed my clinical rotation and now halfway through my food service in the state of Illinois. I’ve had amazing opportunities during my rotations to slowly chip away at my community rotation as well. Nearing the halfway point of my overall hours, I’ve gone through and learned a lot from the different aspects. My preceptors and the dietitians I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside have opened my eyes to so many more possibilities then I ever had imagined.

Starting out with clinical was beyond intimidating since all I walked in knowing was everything from my undergraduate program. The entire week before starting I was going through my old power points and study sets trying so much to be prepared. As much as it helped me calm my nerves walking in that first day, almost everything you know kind of flies right past you. What you know, you know- but then I was at the point of putting these memories into real-life situations which was very horrifying at first. I learned to always ask questions even if it was something as silly as abbreviations that they use.  Getting the opportunity to see their radiation oncology for a week, swallow evaluations for a few days, and be on-site with their ICU team for over the span of my entire last month gave me such a new outlook on the possibilities that we’re able to come and learn from.

My favorite aspect so far was getting to be on site with my community preceptor, Theresa. I was overjoyed to be able to join her multiple times at a few corporations, one even being The Joint Commission. We would set up monthly booths and have handouts, raffles and have one-on-one meetings with employees at the site and have hour-long sessions of in-depth counseling. It was wonderful to see how interactive the role of a dietitian could be at these sites and having these opportunities to watch her with patients and take notes so going forward I could feel more confident helping those who need it.
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I can not wait to finish my food service and have my next steps with long term care and my concentration and finish up my community. Looking back, it’s astounding to see how far I’ve come and really, how quickly these hours fly by in this internship. One thing that has gotten me through my internship that I’d love to leave everyone with and hopefully it will help you too, as said by the wonderful Fred Rogers, “Anything human is mentionable, and anything mentionable is manageable.”

​Hello! My name is Barb Deegan and I am a Sodexo dietetic intern from region 4. It is hard to believe I’m six months into the internship, when it was this time last year that I was completing the daunting application process!
 
So far, I have completed my clinical rotations, long term care, patient services and renal nutrition rotations. My favorite part of the internship so far was spending a week working with dietitians in the cardiac ICU at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  Interning with Sodexo truly offers invaluable experiences and opportunities that you won’t find anywhere else.  I chose Critical Care-MNT as my concentration, which I am completing now at Doylestown Hospital in Pennsylvania.  The reason I selected Critical Care-MNT is because I realized I wanted more experience with patients receiving enteral and parenteral nutrition. Every morning, I attend ICU rounds and assess patients that need nutrition support.  My understanding of laboratory values, medications and disease states has dramatically increased from this rotation.
 
The most important thing I have learned from working in a clinical setting is that dietitians are a vital part of the critical care team.  Nutrition is fundamental to life, and dietetic professionals have the unique ability to assess patient’s estimated needs and make recommendations to provide them with the adequate energy and protein they need to survive.  If you choose Critical Care-MNT as your concentration, you will gain vital experience working as a member of an interdisciplinary team. When you receive a consult for a patient needing nutrition support, you are almost like a detective that needs to solve the mystery of how best to support their needs.  Every patient I see is different. Some need high protein for wound healing, while others have fluid restrictions due to heart failure.  I am learning that nutrition support in the critical care setting is a delicate process.  When I leave each day, I always go home having learned something new that could never be taught in a classroom.
 
At the end of the internship, we will all have to sit for the RD exam, but I can say that with every day of this internship I feel more confident in my abilities and more prepared to pass the exam. 

​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!