Clinical Rotation

I'm almost two weeks into my clinical rotation (and officially half way through my internship program!) and I must admit that I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.  Going in I had a a lot of fears about clinical....it's just so different than anything I've done in the past and it seemed to be so much more "critical" than any of the other nutrition environments.  However, I'm really enjoying the challenge.  It's a lot of work, definitely more than any other rotation so far.  I'm putting in 7-8 hour days in the hospital and then coming home and doing lots of reading on different disease states.  It's exhausting, I'm so ready for the weekend by the time Friday rolls around but I'm learning a lot and I've already noticed some progress in my abilities in terms of talking with and assessing my patients.

I'm at a great hospital with some really great dietitians that know their stuff but are also really trusting me and pushing me to expand my skills and to use my clinical judgement.  I'm seeing about 3 patients a day currently.  I chart on the patient after my visit and my assessment and then I go through the note with one of the dietitians and she signs off on it.  It's a busy environment and the days go by super quickly, I'm sure that it will be over before I know it!