Lessons Learned

You know that saying that you don't appreciate what you've got until it's gone, well it's true even when it comes to the dietetic internship. 

To be honest, I wasn't much of a fan of food service during my rotation.  It just wasn't really my thing, I couldn't see myself doing it for the rest of my life because I felt so removed from the clientele.  On top of that, my food service director was constantly busy running from one meeting to the next and dealing with one personnel issue or another.  To be fair she included me when she could and she had warned me about this up front and had told me that I would have to be really independent and self directed.  I didn't think that this would be a problem but I guess I never really knew what she thought about my work and my progress as the internship went on and that concerned me.  I would wonder if I was doing ok, if they even knew I was there or was I just the pesky intern that was in the way?

Honestly, there were days that I couldn't wait to get back to my main site with my other fellow interns.  But, today was my last day of food service and it was probably the best day of the entire rotation.  You see the pressure to perform was gone.  I had my evaluation early on in the day and it went really well.  I had a really honest, open conversation with my preceptor and she gave me a lot of complements and feedback (which I think is what I was looking for all along).  It took sitting through my evaluation to realize just how much I had learned; and it was then that I realized that most of the lessons were not from doing but rather from observing. 

After my evaluation I had an opportunity to watch one of the ladies in the office's episode on Chopped.  She was one of the contestants on the second lunch ladies challenge and it was beautiful.  She is so invested in what she does and she wants so badly to make a difference.  I'll admit it, I cried a couple of times during the episode.  I was moved.  This is why I went into this field, to educate people and to give them the tools to make healthier choices.  That's all she wanted to do, she just took a different approach in which to do it. 

This is what I love, what I crave, what I want so badly.....to be surrounded by is people who have a passion for what they do and it might have taken me until today to realize that I was surrounded by several people with this passion.  And even if their passion is not my passion I can certainly respect what they do.  Sure they might be busy, they might have hectic lives and they might not always have the time to give the eager intern with the bright ideas the kind of feedback that she would like to have but they are so invested in what they do and it's admirable. 

Several of them even made time to take me out to dinner tonight and it was great.  I didn't know how much I had connected with these people until it was time to say goodbye.  Even if I don't pursue a career in foodservice; I hope that I can stay connected and inspired by these women for a long time and I'm thankful for the opportunity to experience other areas of nutrition and dietetics and to get to interact with people who have a slight different passion than I do but who share my love for nutrition and health. 

Food Service

This week marks my last week in my school food service rotation.  I must admit that I'm ready to get back to my main site for a couple weeks of community/administration and a full week off for Christmas!  Then it's on to clinical.  I can tell that I'm changing (or maybe just adapting to reality!) already because the thought of going to my clinical rotation used to scare me.  At our clinical review session I was on the verge of tears and had to fight off having a very public meltdown.  But after food service I'm so ready for clinical. Bring it on!

You see, I've found out that food service just really isn't my thing.  I love kids and I love childhood nutrition, I also love school so by all accounts I should love food service but I don't.  I don't hate it but I've found that I'm definitely not a food service dietitian.  It's too far removed from the education piece and the client interaction. When I started this internship I really felt that I was a WIC dietitian deep down.  I think that's where my heart is but I've been trying to be open minded and to get the most from each of my experiences.  Ironically though, food service has just reminded me of how much I love the WIC population, the services the program provides and the client interaction.  Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for food service dietitians and directors and the work they do (especially given the new meal pattern requirements) but there is another side to their job that is too involved with personnel management.  My rotation is in a district with 300+ food service employees and the personnel and discipline issues have been overwhelming at times. Something is always going on at some school and the directors day is often interrupted as something comes up.  I like variety and knowing that every day is different but it weighs too heavily on me to have to constantly be writing up an employee or documenting an incident.  I just want to teach nutrition to kids and families. 

I'm glad that I had this experience and I'm glad that food service was my first outside rotation.  It was a great way to get out and experience a new side of dietetics but as I said before I'm so ready for a break (I plan to do as little as possible during my week off!) and for a new rotation.  I also miss seeing my fellow interns on a daily basis and can't wait to be back in our cubes again! :)

One Quarter Finished!

It's hard to believe it, but I'm done with the first 12 weeks of my 46 week internship.  Whew!  In general, it feels like it is going by so fast.  Next week I start my food service rotation and I can't wait.  We have had a lot of "office time" spent just working our way through assignments over the last two weeks and I'm starting to get really tired of spending 10 hours a day in an office chair and then in the car commuting.  My posture is seriously suffering!  I'm ready for a change and a chance to be out and about on my feet. 

It's been a rough month or so for me emotionally and I must say that some things have come up in my personal life along the way (during the internship) that have been challenging and I wasn't really prepared to deal with that on top of the stress of the internship.  I will say that I don't think that it really affected my performance at the internship but it has really affected my emotional state and my behaviors outside of it.  There was a kidnapping/murder in my childhood (and current) neighborhood that went unsolved for several weeks and I was really surprised at how much that rattled my sense of security.  I became obsessed about checking the news for updates even when I knew that watching all the reports was likely adding to my anxiety.  The great part of watching all of this news coverage though was that it continually reinforced my decision to not follow my first career path (broadcast news) and to pursue my current one...dietetics!  It was reassuring to finally KNOW in my heart and be able to internalize that I'm in the right place professionally. 
Then we had an unexpected late night phone call that kept my husband and I up really late one night last week which was also somewhat emotionally draining the next day.  Luckily, both of these events are in the past now and I'm feeling much better about everything now that the murderer has been caught.  But I will say that this has definitely been the biggest challenge for me thus far with balancing the "interruptions" in my personal life and sorting through those emotions while still performing at my best on a daily basis.  Maybe it's because I'm a planner and I had thought through everything else.  I had prepared myself for the commute, for the financial aspects of having to give up my paying job and pay $6,000 of tuition without student loans but I never thought about what "else" might be going on around me outside of work. 

I had a meeting with my internship director today to discuss my progress so far and it went extremely well.  It was great to sit down with her and talk about how everything was going and it was reassuring to get some positive feedback.  I'm in a great place now though and now that I'm already a quarter of the way through, I'm ready to keep going and to keep experiencing new opportunities and areas of dietetics.     

Do Something Everyday!

The application process is like a full time job.  It takes a lot of time, effort and persistance to get it all finished and complete in time.  It can also be incredibly overwhelming!  So one of the best pieces of advice that I have is do something everyday.  This can be as simple as entering your course work into DICAS, requesting a transcript from a previous school, adding a new volunteer event to your resume, mailing an application fee or even just proofreading something that you have already written for the internship. 

I found it really helpful to organize myself.  I made personal checklists that outlined everything that I needed to complete and turn in for each program and I slowly checked off each item as it was completed.  This made it easier to take small steps towards getting everything finished.  It was also motivating to see the progress that I was making. 

Here is a sample of one of the checklists that I made for one of the programs that I applied to. This allowed me to keep track of costs, deadlines and dates when documents were requested, submitted and received.  This document also included contact information for the program and the internship director so that I could send a quick email or make a phone call if I had a question.  You will also notice notes like "include email address on check".  Some programs have special requests and this allowed me to keep track of those. 

Ohio State University

Deadline: February 15^th

§  DICAS Application-$20                  Date Submitted:                      Date Received:

§  References                                      Date Requested:                      Date Received:

§  Personal Statement                       Date Submitted                       Date Received:

§  Declaration of Intent                     Date Submitted:                      Date Received:

§  Official Transcripts

o   Front Range          Date Requested:              Date Received:

o   CU                          Date Requested:              Date Received:

o   Metro                    Date Requested:              Date Received:

§  Computer Matching-$50  Date Registered:              Date Received:

o   Mail to:

D&D Digital Systems

Suite 301

304 Main Street

Ames, IA 50010

§  Application Fee-$40         Date Submitted:               Date Received:

Include email address on check

o   Mail to:

Julie Kennel

Director, Dietetic Internship Program

315E Campbell Hall

1787 Neil Ave.

Columbus, Ohio 43210

§  Contact Info:

o   Julie Kennel

Director, Dietetic Internship Program

315E Campbell Hall

1787 Neil Ave.

Columbus, Ohio 43210

Full Swing!

Wow, I really need to get better at updating my blog!  Once a month is not very frequently enough but it's a testament to how busy I've been to this point.   Our research project is now in full swing, we are to the point where we have weekly deadlines.  I'm also counseling clients in the women's health clinic and we have been given our clinical and food service checklists.  I didn't think that it could get much busier but I was wrong!  We are also still continuing to work off of the community and administrative checklists while attending trainings and meetings weekly.

We had a clinical review session today and at first I nearly had a panic attack.  It seems so overwhelming!  As the session went on, the RD (who is a former intern from my agency) reassured us that we won't be expected to know everything and that the goal is to move us from where we are now to the next stage.  We also got to meet with a technician in the cardiac cath lab and that was really interesting.  He was also really interesting so it was nice to lighten the mood a bit. 

I've started in the women's health clinic and I've counseled two patients on my own.  The hardest part about this rotation has been realizing how much these women are going through.  Some have found lumps in their breasts and are scared about that, many are going through divorces and other tough life scenarios, some are finding that they have high blood sugar, and many are in situational poverty which makes for a unique series of situations to offer nutritional counseling.  

Since I last wrote, we had a DiSC personality training which was really interesting and very enlightening.  I'm a DC which probably isn't much of a surprise to anyone who knows me.  D's are leaders and are often the ones to take charge.  C's are really organized.  That's me.  It was also very enlightening to think of even in terms of our personal relationships.  For instance my husband is a ID which makes for interesting conversations in our house.  I tend to say things as they come to mind (that I might not really mean) and he is much more of a feelings person.  He's also the "people" person which is definately the truth.  Everyone loves him as do I! :)

We also go to visit the local food bank and back boxes for the commodity supplemental foods program which was really fun.  I also had the opportunity to visit with a private practice dietitian and she invited me to write a guest blog for a website that she works for called MyNetDiary.  I will link to that post as soon as it's posted.  I've attended a breast feeding training which was great but really fed my baby fever! I also got to visit another local food pantry that absolutely blew my mind with all of the incredible services that they provide including bus tokens, assistance to obtain supplies for work as well as assistance in obtaining identification.  I also had the amazing opportunity to attend a Hunger Summit and to meet with an eating disorder therapist.


Food service is coming up really quickly, I will be starting in just a couple of weeks and I'm excited to get into an outside rotation.  I think this is a great place for me to start given that I have a background in food service and that it will be a fun environment to work in the schools.  

One Month In!

It's hard to believe but I've officially been a dietetic intern for one month!  If the rest of the process goes as fast as this first four weeks then I will be done before I know it.  I guess it helps that we are constantly busy.  We are now working off of checklists for three separate rotations which is a big exercise in organization and multitasking.  On top of that we were given our official schedules and rotation assignments so we know what lies ahead.

In October I will begin my first outside rotation in a clinic that offers women's health services (mammograms, pap smears, cholesterol screening, etc) to women between the ages of 40 and 64 that are uninsured or underinsured.  As part of this program I had to learn to take blood pressure and had a refresher course in type 2 diabetes.  It's a quick rotation, just five clinic days total but it should be really interesting because it's a neat partnership between the medical community (nurses, doctors, medical assistants) and the nutrition side of things (dietitians).  I also have to write a newsletter to be sent to these patients which should be really fun given my journalism background.

In terms of other assignments, I will be doing my food service rotation with a dietitian in a large local school district which should be really neat because I'm very interested in school nutrition.  After Christmas Break I will be starting my clinical rotation in a hospital downtown that is a level one trauma facility and serves all people regardless of their ability to pay.  This is the rotation that I am most concerned with because clinical is probably my weakest area of dietetics.  I don't have any experience in the clinical setting and it tends to be a higher stress situation than what I'm used.  Finally, my WIC rotation is with a dietitian that is two years younger than me that is also pretty fresh out of her internship.  By the time I get to her, she will have been working in her current position for just over a year.  I'm actually really excited to learn from someone who has just gone through this whole process herself.  After WIC I will have rotation in pediatrics at a hospital, one in long term care, two weeks in an outside research setting and an option week where we get to set up our own rotation.  I'm thinking that I would like to do my choice week with childhood diabetes.

In between these rotations and during our downtime (which is decreasing each week) we will be working on our community and administration checklists as well as our big research project which is just getting underway.  It's a lot but I still love it and I feel good about the progress I'm making so far.  I'm also still really thankful for the opportunities that I get through this internship.  The interns are basically treated like management so we get to attend all kinds of trainings, workshops and seminars.  Tomorrow we have a presentation on working with those in poverty which I'm really excited about.  The woman that is speaking was born into poverty and is now a PhD.

That's all for now, I'll try to update again soon!

Two Weeks In!

Whew!  What a whirlwind two weeks it has been so far!  I'm still feeling all kinds of mixed emotions.   On a daily basis I feel extremely fortunate to have this opportunity and to have been placed in this internship.  I grow to love public health and the preventative nature a little more every day and I'm so inspired to help people make simple changes before they develop health problems.  On the other hand, the tasks are so daunting and there is still a lot of unknowns.  We don't have a full rotation schedule yet which means I'm unsure of where I will be placed as early as next week.  To be clear the schedule is developed but because there are six of us we will all have a slightly different schedule so at this point I don't know if my line on the schedule is #1 or #6.  I should have a better idea of what comes next by the end of this week.

Additionally, I feel like I went into class on the first day of school and was handed a syllabus with 75 assignments. We have all of these assignments to complete, meetings to have and projects to accomplish.  The problem is that some of the items will be scheduled for me, many I will have to setup and complete myself and others will require that I work together with my co-interns.  It's been a process learning how to organize myself and how to best tackle the tasks at hand.  However, I have slowly started to figure it all out and I adore my co-interns.  We are such unique girls with a variety of backgrounds but we have such similar and complementary personalities and I would honestly chose to be friends with each one of them had we met in a different situation.  I'm really enjoying their company and I really look forward to sharing this experience with them.

Here's a quick rundown of the highlight of what I have accomplished so far, I have:

*taught a nutrition education class to welfare recipients
*attended several trainings, meetings and development workshops
*volunteered at a produce and health fair
*completed a site visit with a school garden/youth farmer's market program
*contacted several other individuals about setting up site visits with their nutrition or food program
*monitored a nutrition blog
*checked out a food related app
*researched the Paleo diet for my fad diet paper
*researched the food and cultural customs of Cuba
*researched the role of soy consumption in breast cancer risk

and those are just a few highlights!  Last Friday was my favorite day so far.  We started the day helping at a produce and health fair hosted by one of the WIC sites.  We provided resource information, produce and other groceries to 756 different adults in less than two hours!  It was amazing.  The people were so grateful and I had the chance to interact with all different ages and cultures.  I even got to put my Spanish skills to work.  After that I had the opportunity to do a field site visit with a local elementary school that has a student run community garden. The garden is huge and has been around for years.  It is no self-sustaining and the kids get the opportunity to sell the produce that they grow at biweekly youth farmer's markets.  It was so fun to see the kids using their math skills to make change and to see their excitement about trying new fruits and vegetables (this week we sampled lemon cucumbers). 

That's weeks 1 and 2 in a nutshell.  There's so much more ahead and I'm looking forward to beginning my first outside rotation soon. 

Day 1!

I have survived the first 8 of 1688 hours of my dietetic internship!  Yay!  I hardly slept at all last night I was so excited/nervous.  Luckily today was an easy basic intro day that basically involved introductions, some paperwork and computer training and a lot of building tours.   Most importantly, today was a good reminder of why I chose to do what I do and I feel so blessed to have this opportunity.  My program is amazing!  I love the public health aspect and all of the preventative health measures that the health department takes to educate and protect it's citizens.  I feel so empowered and that what I'm doing really can and will make a difference.  It's an incredible feeling.

And on top of all of that they really made me feel welcome and that I'm more than "just an intern".  I have an adorable little cubicle next to the all of the other interns that had a cute little welcome sign, a nameplate and a tote bag and water bottle.  The previous interns also left us a box of goodies/necessities that included fun things like vegetable shaped candles, water bottles, tea and a feather boa.  There are six interns...all girls and we get along great already!  I can't wait to get to know them better.  We all have a different nutrition "background" so it will be exciting to learn from each other and to get to work together.   I know that it's going to be a long ride with a lot of hard work but I'm ready for the adventure!

Less than 1 Week!

I just got back from a quick vacation before the internship gets started NEXT MONDAY.  I'm freaking out a bit.  I have so much to do before it all gets going.  My house is a mess, I have some first day assignments/organizing/paperwork to finish and I just feel like I need to get my life in order.  I'm so glad that I quit working at the restaurant a week ago or I would probably be much crazier right now.

I don't know why I'm so nervous about getting started.  I think it's just so much change at once. I quit my job, I'm done with school and now I'm paying someone to work for free.  Oh yeah, and it's finally doing the job that I've been dreaming of and sacrificing for.  I think it's like a wedding; there's so much buildup to the big day that you can't help but feel anxious beforehand.  On top of all of this, no one seems to understand my emotions.  Friend and family keep asking "Why are you nervous?" "Aren't you excited."  Yes I'm excited, yes I'm anxious.  Yes I'm scared.  Is that ok?  I'm being honest here.  I'm sure that I will be fine after Monday, I just need to get in there and know that I really can do this and finish this whole adventure.

I Wish I Knew That...#2

Read the application instructions and then read them again!!

Case in point: DICAS wants your schools to send your transcripts to them directly with a special form that is available on the application website.  I thought that I would save time and make sure that things arrived by the deadline by collecting each of my three official transcripts in sealed envelopes and them send them in one envelope for all three schools.  This was my plan until just 1 month before the deadline when I realized that the transcripts had to be sent directly from the schools.  This was one of the most stressful parts of the whole process because I had one month for the schools to process and mail my transcripts and for DICAS to receive and upload them to my account.  It generally takes several business days for DICAS to process your paperwork after it arrives.  I checked the website religiously until my documents showed up.

The moral of the story:  save yourself the headache and get your transcript requests in early but make sure that you stay diligent with checking the website to make sure that your paperwork is received and processed in a timely manner.

Two Weeks!

Tomorrow is my last day working in the restaurant business and today marks two weeks until the internship gets going.  As I've mentioned before, I'm excited but anxious.  It's terrifying giving up my income to work for free for 10 and a half months but exciting because this is my dream and is all that I've worked for over the last two and half years!  I'll keep you posted as things get started.

Help! My Internship is Giving Me a Shopping Problem!

It's true.  My upcoming internship is giving me a shopping problem.  These end of season clearances and sales are draining my budget.  It's been years since I had a need to go shopping for office appropriate clothing but I knew that I would need to stock up on office attire before my internship started so I set aside all of my graduation money to spend on a new "grown up" wardrobe.  Here's the problem...I'm having too much fun buying all kinds of cute work clothes!!  And now that I have cute work clothes, I need matching shoes which is strange because I have never been much of a shoe girl.  Usually, I could care less what my shoes look like as long as I have a cute purse and other accessories. I don't know what's come over me, but I suddenly need a pair of dress shoes in every color.  I have purchased five pairs in the last three days.  Luckily I'm quite the bargain hunter so I've only spent $60 on all five pairs but this internship needs to get started so that I can quite spending money!

Application Process Tip #6

1       Pay attention to program deadlines.  My #1 choice had a deadline that was two weeks early than the national deadline.  DICAS only allows you to submit one application regardless of how many programs you apply to  so I had to make sure that all of my applications were completed by the due date for the first program.  

Less than 1 month to go!

My internship starts on August 13th, which is less than one month away!  I'm getting excited and anxious, it's scary to think that it's almost the final step in my career path to becoming an RD. I got an email from my internship director the other day and nearly jumped out of my skin with excitement.  I was hoping to get an idea of where my first rotations would be and what my schedule would look like but no such luck.  The email contained a lot of info on policies and procedures for interns, where to purchase professional liability insurance, books to buy and information on a couple of assignments that we will have.  The biggest assignment so far is to research a fad diet and write a paper and give a presentation on our analysis of the diet and what we would tell a client that was interested in trying the diet out.  I chose to do my project on the Paleo diet.  I will be sure to share my opinions and findings regarding the Paleo diet on this blog.

Application Process Tip #5

Get into the habit of updating your resume on a regular basis.  It's hard to look back on former volunteer opportunities, jobs, and internships and remember your exact dates of service, duties and the job description.  I've found that it's much easier to talk about your experiences while they are happening rather than try to look back and remember the details.  I've also found it helpful to save copies of the job description to help narrow down the most important bullet points to highlight on your resume regarding your contribution to the job or volunteer project.

Also, don't be afraid to ask your friends and family if you can see their resumes to get different formatting and style ideas.  There are a million different ways to write a resume so look at others and use the internet to find a style that you like.  Just make sure it's concise and to the point.  A quick tip within a tip: if you have a previous career and/or a lot of other job experiences that are not very relevant to the position that you are applying for, it's ok to put "selected employment" on your resume and to highlight those positions that are most relevant to your current field.  I did this on my internship applications without a problem. 

Finally, Your resume is also one aspect of the dietetic internship application process that you can clean up and pretty much get ready to go way in advance which makes for one less thing you have to compile during the application process.

I wish I knew that...#1

These posts will all be about things I wish I knew when I was going through the application process.  Here's #1.

Good news!  The American Dietetic Association offers some scholarships for dietetic interns.  The deadline for these is February each year which is also when the application deadline falls for the dietetic internship program.  I was so busy working on my internship applications that I did not discover these scholarships until it was too late and the deadline had passed.  Make sure you check these out ahead of time and apply if you meet the criteria.  I'm sure that a lot of students are like me and don't find out about these opportunities until it's too late.

Application Process Tip #4

Document all of your "experience hours".  Record your hours, jot down important notes and take photos of any relevant volunteer or work experience.  I looked into applying to a program that wanted to see 1,000 hours of documented, relevant nutrition experience from their applicants.  I recommend using a simple Excel spreadsheet to track your hours and don't forget to take photos!  Some programs also want to see a creative portfolio of your work.  Finally, even if you end up applying to programs that do not have these requirements, you will find the log and the photos to be helpful for you to review before you interview so that your experiences are fresh in your mind and you can use them as examples of your work.

Application Process Tip #3

1       Ask your references early!  For me this was one of the most stressful parts of the application because once you ask them to write your reference it's out of your control.  Your application is not complete until all references are submitted and they have to meet the same deadline that you do.  You want to make sure that you ask those that can be good references for you but many programs have stipulations regarding who they want to see as your references.  You need to have 3 references and some programs require that two of the three be professors or advisers from your program.  I asked all of my references immediately after the application became available which was in early December.  This way they had about two full months to get online and fill out my recommendation.  I also made sure to ask before Winter Break (before most students did) so that my professors would have that time off to do my reference if they wanted to.  Even then I still had one reference that waited until what felt like the last minute (I think it was actually during the last week) to submit hers.   

Application Process Tip #2

1       Save $$!  My husband and I were fortunate enough to have renters living in our house for about a year and a half.  We knew that this internship was coming up and that we would have to plan for not only my tuition costs (most programs are $6,000+) as well as my lost income (many programs say that it is difficult to work while doing your internship).  An important note, Dietetic Interns are NOT eligible for the traditional student loans.  There is also a cost associated with the application process.  There is an application fee that must be sent to each program (usually $30-$80 depending on the program) plus a matching fee of $50 and a DICAS fee for each online application that you complete ($40 for the first program, $20 for each additional).  I applied to six programs so the application process alone cost almost $500!

Application Process Tip #1

          Start early! I began looking at the ADA's list of accredited dietetic internship programs the summer before I intended to apply.  I knew that I wanted a program with a community based focus so this website helped me to identify which programs were out there, where they were located and how much they would cost.  I began narrowing down my list of programs that I was interested in applying to based on the program focus, the location, cost of tuition and length and structure of the program.  Some programs also have information sessions and opportunities to come visit.  By the time fall semester started I had a pretty good idea of which programs I wanted to apply to. 

Introduction

As my "about me" states, I am a recent graduate of the Human Nutrition and Dietetics program at Metropolitan State University of Denver, Colorado.  I will be beginning a 10 1/2 month dietetic internship in August.  I started this blog to act as a diary of sorts in order to chronicle my experiences as a dietetic intern.  I'm also hoping to use my blog to help other students who are going through the internship application process.  I found the entire process to be overwhelming at times and I'm hoping that my experiences can help others to avoid some of the mistakes I made and to feel a little less stress during their application period.  I welcome any questions and comments and thanks for reading!