| Hi everyone! My name is Shaylyn (Shay) Lynch and I am a dietetic intern from Sodexo’s Philadelphia location. I just finished my basic clinical rotation at Aria Health Torresdale Campus. It’s hard to believe I’m already moving on to the intermediate portion of the clinical rotation. It goes by so fast! I wanted to spend time discussing the amazing opportunities I have experienced so far as an intern this past month. The best advice I would give someone who is beginning their internship is to take advantage of all the opportunities. If there is something you want to do or see during your rotation, just ask! |  With certificates of completion, from left to right: Melissa Grande, Kami Zdanowicz, and Shaylyn Lynch (me). |
The following are highlights from my basic clinical rotation.
- Seeing a Transesophageal Echocardiogram (TEE). My preceptor actually offered to set this up without me even asking so that was really neat. I was nervous before going into the procedure room but I knew this would be an amazing experience and something I couldn’t pass up. I was able to see the doctor insert the ultrasound transducer through the patient’s mouth and view the patient’s heart valves and chambers on a monitor. Absolutely fascinating!
- Spending time with the Diabetes Educator. My concentration for the internship is diabetes so any opportunity where I can get hands-on experience in this area is of interest to me. My preceptor was able to set up a time for me to shadow the Registered Nurse Certified Diabetes Educator within my facility to learn about medications, insulin injections, and insulin pumps. It was interesting to learn more about the medical side of diabetes management.
- Observing an Interview. During the patient services rotation, I was able to observe an interview led by the Operations Manager. I felt experiencing the interview process from the other side was eye-opening and a great experience as an intern. I know it will help me in the future if/when I have to conduct an interview and definitely for future careers where I will be interviewed.
- Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Workshop. I haven’t been able to spend much time with individuals who have kidney disease thus far in my career, so I was extremely excited to be invited to DaVita’s CKD workshop. I attended the workshop with two of the other Philadelphia location interns. We learned about the kidneys, treatment choices, and the nutritional needs during kidney treatment. We were even able to touch a dialyzer that is used during hemodialysis.
