Hi! My name is Reshma, and I’m an intern with the Allentown campus. This fall, I traveled to Washington, DC as part of the New Jersey delegation to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Public Policy Workshop. As part of the delegation, we visited the offices of New Jersey’s federal representatives to the house and senate. We sat down with our representatives and educated them on the role of dietitians in healthcare, and more specifically, how dietitians play an active role in assessing for and helping to treat malnutrition. We highlighted dietitians’ rigorous education and internship requirements and that we are THE nutrition experts. I felt it was an invaluable experience to advocate for our profession and our patients, and I learned more about how to speak with our representatives.
Public Policy Workshop was not an event I was required to participate in, but, having a passion for policy, I took the initiative and went. I not only experienced Capitol Hill, but I also met with many RDs and interns from across the state and forged professional relationships with them that I think will be valuable as I enter the field as an RD myself.
I also believe it’s important for me to take initiative at my clinical rotations. For example, I wanted to know the nutrition breakdown of the various diets we offer at my hospital in order to have an objective measure to assess patients’ energy and nutrient intakes. I looked at the daily menus for different diets and made a spreadsheet of how many kcals, CHO, protein, fat, fluid, and relevant vitamins and minerals each diet delivers. This helped me and the RDs to have a benchmark for whether or not a particular diet was meeting a patient’s needs, and if not, what we had to do to meet those needs.
Getting involved at any level- whether it is at the level of the rotations or the profession as a whole- offers many opportunities for learning and growth and makes us better prepared once we enter the field.
Public Policy Workshop was not an event I was required to participate in, but, having a passion for policy, I took the initiative and went. I not only experienced Capitol Hill, but I also met with many RDs and interns from across the state and forged professional relationships with them that I think will be valuable as I enter the field as an RD myself.
I also believe it’s important for me to take initiative at my clinical rotations. For example, I wanted to know the nutrition breakdown of the various diets we offer at my hospital in order to have an objective measure to assess patients’ energy and nutrient intakes. I looked at the daily menus for different diets and made a spreadsheet of how many kcals, CHO, protein, fat, fluid, and relevant vitamins and minerals each diet delivers. This helped me and the RDs to have a benchmark for whether or not a particular diet was meeting a patient’s needs, and if not, what we had to do to meet those needs.
Getting involved at any level- whether it is at the level of the rotations or the profession as a whole- offers many opportunities for learning and growth and makes us better prepared once we enter the field.
