Outpatient continues

I am almost done with outpatient! Actually this rotation has been by far the best. I have learned a great deal by listening to counseling sessions and actually counseling by myself as well. I also went to an ALS center and got to see ALS/PLS patients and saw the nutrition counseling side of that as well. I sat in on doctor visits for 2 days with a holistic doctor, so I got to see different patients with various diseases and also a different counseling style. Yesterday I sat in on a weight loss program run by the preceptors. I think it would have been interesting if i were there from the beginning of the program and see how people respond. I think I would want to do some outpatient but maybe not as a full time job...
Next post will be WIC!

Food service and community comments =)

I have some comments from an intern from a different internship:

1. Not all school foodservice directors get summers off! I know at Sacramento City Unified they are very busy during the summer with Summer Feeding and preparing for the next year. My guess is the bigger the school district, the busier during the summer.

2. Not all community rotations are awful! I am really enjoying mine in the field of corporate wellness. I give a lot of nutrition presentations to business professionals at their workplace.

Nutrition Counseling-Outpatient Rotation

This week I am doing out-patient...which i love so far!
Tuesday I sat in on nutrition counseling with an RD who is also Certified Diabetes Educator. She had a type 1 diabetic patient. I just listened to the counseling session, which lasted for 1.5 hours. I really enjoyed it. At night I went to her diabetes education session. there was a podiatrist who talked about the effects of diabetes on your feet and then the RD spoke about how to manage your diabetes. There is a useful guide from the American Diabetes Association on exchange lists.
The next day i went to sit in on nutrition counseling with another preceptor who counseled a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic. I was able to see different counseling techniques. There were lots of no-shows and cancellations on both days so i only got to see one patient each day.
And TODAY i just "educated" (counseled) a patient on my own! it was a little scary but it was kind of fun. I used handouts provided by my preceptor, very helpful. the patient was knowledgeable about nutrition and health conscious so i didnt have too much to say...but it went okay. I was able to make some recommendations- both nutritional and exercise.
I finally feel like im in the dietetic internship!

School Food Service Rotation

I finished my 3 short weeks of school food service rotation. I was at a high school working with the director who oversees the whole district (which is 2 elementary, 1 middle, and 1 high school). Most of the time i was there i spent finding labels for foods served and making a book of ingredients and nutrition facts. i then made a chart for carb counts and allergens. This is mostly because many parents are calling because they have kids with allergies, celiac disease, and diabetes. It was very time consuming and tedious but it was ok. I spent most of the time doing office work rather than hands-on food service, like i did in undergrad. It was nice to see the management of each school and the district as a whole.
The school district I did my rotation did not emphasize whole foods, as stony brook does. There are foods with trans fat. There are PLENTY of foods with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Here I was able to realize the realistic aspect: the limited budget.
What I liked about this rotation was that I didnt have to bring/buy lunch. lol

School food service is not in my area of interest but it was still okay. it still is a possibility for my future because my preceptor pointed out something i didn't think of (i don't know why). I'd always been concerned about my future: I want to work and have a family. If I work as a school food service director, I would get the school holidays and summer off. It is also pretty good money. Something to think about...

I started outpatient this week (very exciting) so that will be my next entry!

Please post any questions/comments

DI prospective applicants

If you are applying to DI's these links may be helpful!

http://eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/career_2191_ENU_HTML.htm
(or search dietetic internship under eatright.org)

www.allaccessinternships.com

Community Rotation

SUNY stony brook DI has an emphasis in clinical(10 weeks inpatient 4 weeks outpatient and 2 weeks elective outpatient) and community (4 weeks). However, i was disappointed in the community rotation here. I was interested in community before doing the rotation. I'm not sure if community is generally like this or if it just turned me off. 4 weeks was way too long, although last year it was 5 weeks. During this rotation I had 3 preceptors- each week i had a different one. The preceptors were working on grants (heart links, best practice, obesity coalition) that i helped with...barely. I attended a lot of meetings at schools for the food committee because it was the beginning of the year. I drove a lot (over an hour) to each place and sat there to listen to people discuss/argue about school lunch. So I got a good insight of how school foods are determined... but that's about it. Other times I did a lot of bitch work (office work that nobody else wanted to do) and made handouts for schools (how to eat healthy, etc.). We also have modules for each rotation. We have assignments to work on throughout the rotation that we must turn in. I had to make up lesson plans for a certain audience, write sample letters to the editor, etc. So all in all, I was a bit disappointed in the community rotation. I felt that I did not have a chance to participate and get a feel of community. Or maybe community is a little slow and boring for me...
I came into this internship believing that i will find a field that I would like to pursue after getting my RD.... But I think i was wrong.

Introduction

Hello! I am a dietetic intern at Stony Brook University at the State University of New York (it's on Long Island). I graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Clinical Nutrition and just started my internship in September. I'm also doing a graduate program in Healthcare Policy and Management. I finished my community rotation and I'm currently doing School Food Service. In this blog I am going to be sharing my experiences, venting when necessary, and maybe asking some questions for other interns at other internships (if people actually read this). This way I feel like I could write down what I've done so I wont forget. Also I hope this will be a good method of networking. So please feel free to ask questions and share your ideas as well!

Why did i move from California to Long Island? Well first of all, I ended up here. Most of you probably know that you can't exactly CHOOSE where you want to go but you apply to several places and rank them. This was my last choice but I am glad I got in to Stony Brook. This place is beautiful and a nice change from California. As for the internship, I just started so I can't say too much. This internship emphasizes COMMUNITY and CLINICAL. You can also do a 1 year master's program in health care management during the internship.
Here is the website if you are interested: Stony Brook
Anyways, that is all for now. I will try to post my community and food service experiences in the new future.