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.