10 TAKEAWAYS FROM MY FIRST SEMESTER AS A DIETETIC INTERN

12.19.2019

dietetic internship

I couldn’t help but wonder…

HOW IS THE FIRST SEMESTER OF MY DIETETIC INTERNSHIP OVER?!!

This semester has flown by. 10 days at WIC, 20 days at the People’s Resource Center food pantry, 10 days at Roche Dietitians, 1 day at VeggieRX, and 4 days at lunch bunch.

Am I missing anything??

I can’t even keep track of myself these days.

Every day is a new adventure during the internship!

I love bringing you guys along the journey with me. As a dietetics student at UW-Madison, I was so frustrated with the uncertainty of graduation… First, I wouldn’t know if I got matched to an internship until April 16th.

Next, if I do get matched, where the heck will I be? Will I be in Boston? California? Chicago? DC? Do I need a car? What will my internship be like? Is it as horrible as people on social media say it is??

My cortisol levels were VERY HIGH at this time :’)

When I got matched, I made a promise to my followers that I would bring them along on this journey with me. My mission is to bring some light to the internship… People make it out to sound like its hell on Earth! I can only speak from my experience. At the same token, I’m not here to sugar coat; I want to bring some optimism to this experience, but also maintain transparency!

The internship schedule follows the Loyola school calendar, so I have a little break before I start my clinicals next semester! After a semester of clinicals, I will start food service, then wrap up the internship in early July. I was at rotation sites full time ( 8-4, 8:30-4:30, 9-5, depends on the site’s schedule ) and had class every Wednesday night for 3 hours… Every internship program has a different schedule, but here are 10 takeaways I had from this public health semester.

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10 takeaways:

You Must Be Flexible & Patient
  • All interns are given “flex days” which are essentially days off, but can be swapped with days you are sick or you can be assigned to help out at a site or work on a project that day! Schedules aren’t always set in stone.
  • There is a learning curve at each site… Be patient with yourself! It takes a bit of time to get yourself oriented.
  • I would wrap up my day anywhere from 2:30 to 7:30…  BRING SNACKS, be flexible, and DON’T COMPLAIN TO YOUR PRECEPTORS! It’s not a good way to represent yourself or your internship program.
Keep an Open Mind & Be Intentional
  • Some sites you will LOVE, some sites you won’t. Change your mindset from “Why am I at this site, I don’t see myself working here?” to “What value can I extract from this site to help me get to where I want to be?”
    • Is it eye-opening? Are you refining your interpersonal skills? Are you learning a new software that will help your future practice? Are you practicing your creativity?
  • Ask your preceptors about their experience as an emerging dietitian and what worked/didn’t when they jumped into the field! One of my preceptors is a grad from the MS/DI track at Rush and started her own nutrition consulting firm right after becoming a RDN! She was an amazing resource and mentor to me and shared her tips for starting a business from a dietitian’s perspective. This is the time to learn from experts before you become one!
  • The dietetics community is relatively small… Your preceptor may be your future boss or referral to another job! You should always be putting your best foot forward and represent yourself in the best way possible!
Time Management = Major
  • The public health semester is VERY project heavy. With a different schedule every week, it can get chaotic. Write down EVERYTHING in your planner: deadlines, your rotation/seminar schedule, hair cut appointments, workouts, happy hour with your friends, birthday dinners, etc and look at your responsibilities for the next couple weeks at the beginning of every week so you know how to manage your time. I also added everything to my google calendar so I would get a notification 30 minutes before any event.
  • Keep in mind that you are essentially working a full time job ( w/o pay.. LOL. ) and taking classes. I would LITERALLY schedule in relaxing time so I felt recharged and ready to bring my A game to rotations.
Don’t Forget to Enjoy Yourself!!
  • My first day at WIC, I was 15 minutes late; I was commuting from the suburbs to the city and planned to get there 15 minutes early… but then the rain hit! This experience taught me two things: A) Check the weather before commuting an hour away and B) Learn how to enjoy the commute! I used this time to catch up on the news and listen to the The Daily podcast. Commutes can be horrible, but make the best of your time! My next commute was only 7 minutes away and I low key missed my long commutes… (kinda, sorta)
  • Have a social life outside the internship! I meet up with friends from school on the weekends to watch Wisconsin football and enjoy nights out in Old Town. When I had days off, I would look ahead and start projects so I could enjoy my weekends.
Set Your Priorities Early
  • Know what your priorities are before you start your internship. After the internship, I also wanted to continue to work on my side hustle, AHTK! AHTK is a constant reminder of why I am in this field and where I want to take my career. I interned for All Access Dietetics ( formerly known as All Access Internships ) last summer and Jenny Westerkamp, founder of AAD and Bulls Nutritionist, taught me to be strategic during my internship so I’ll be ready to take on the career I want when I graduate.
Communicate… Communicate… Communicate…
  • I jumped into projects at my rotation site without much context. Make sure to ask questions along the way and show your preceptor that you are curious!
  • Tell your preceptor what your interests and skills are. I told my preceptor about my passion for content creation and I was able to use my photography and editing skills to help create 300+ edited photos of food showing the different levels of texture on the IDDSI diet! The DI is a great opportunity to test how you can leverage your skills in the dietetics field!
Know When to Turn it Off
  • Know when to turn off – time block to make sure you’re spending an appropriate amount of time and efficiently working on something  (assignments, happy hour, dinners, study time)
  • Time blocking is key for productivity! Time blocking forces you to be productive during the times you scheduled for certain tasks. The time outside of your scheduled responsibilities allows you to relax and take your mind off rotations and class!
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  • The dietetic internship is an unpaid internship… In fact, you pay to intern! Because you work 9-5 and have homework on top of that, there isn’t much time to spend working outside of the internship. It is possible, but difficult!
  • Save money by bringing your own lunch/snacks/sometimes dinner, live at home if you can, make coffee at home, and being mindful of how much you spend on the weekends!
Balance
  • “You often feel tired not because you’ve done too much, but because you’ve done too little of what sets your soul on fire”
  • My second summer internship was with Dawn Jackson Blatner and she is a dietitian mentor of mine who I really look up to. She is very successful: she is the Cubs dietitian, an author, the SHAPE magazine advisory board, PEOPLE Magazine Celebrity Diet Consultant, winner of ABC Reality Show, My Diet Is Better Than Yours, and a TV Host!!
  • She taught me to hustle my ass off, but to bring joy along the way! It’s a great reminder that we need to hustle to get to where we want to go, but we’re in this field because we are passionate about what we do!
Be Grateful
  • Remember that one year ago, you wish you were where you are now! I will never forget how emotional I was on match day! I was bawling my eyes out over my second glass of rosé next to my parents. Knowing that all the hard work and sacrifice I made the past 4 years paid off. Remind yourself of how hard you worked to get here because YOU DESERVE IT, BETCH!!!

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I covered most of the questions you guys asked in my Instagram Q+A, but here are some of the topics I didn’t cover:

Public Health Semester Q+A

Outfit inspo for rotations

Most of my public health supervised sites were business casual. I wore my Rothy’s Bright White sneakers every day because it’s cute, comfy AF, easy to slip on and off, washable, and matches everything – it was worth every penny IMO. Clinicals require close toed shoes and I’ll def be wearing my Rothy’s for that semester too! If I was at a site that was in a safe area, I’d walk for the duration of my lunch break to get some steps in and Rothy’s were always very comfy!

If I could, I would have my entire from Artizia. I am OBSESSED with their pieces because they are simple but also high quality. I also bought more business like blouses and dressy pants from Ann Taylor! We want business, but make it fashion!!

Books for rotations that you reference

I didn’t have a specific textbook that guided me through rotations, but would recommend the book, The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. This book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience – two qualities that are necessary for being a successful dietetic intern. This book helps you focus on what you can control and to use every obstacle as an opportunity to become better, stronger, and tougher.

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” 

What did I take with me to my rotations

10/10 recommend keeping it to a minimum. I brought my backpack with my laptop, notebook, pen and pencils, chapstick, binder with class/rotation schedule, snack, lunch, headphones ( for my lunch break walks ), and hydroflask ( highly recommend getting a large water bottle so you don’t have to fill it up 50 times throughout the day – make sure you get one with a straw to make drinking easier ). We had class every Wednesday so I’d make sure that I brought everything I needed for class that day.

You do have to be careful with what you bring. I’ve heard of interns getting their laptop stolen, so always ask your preceptor what you need to bring and if there is a safe place to store your items.

Where to volunteer in public health

Really depends what you’re looking for! If you want to volunteer, I would recommend looking at your local food pantries or nursing homes. There are a lot of farm to table organizations that provide discounted or free product to clients in the Chicago area and I think those would be another great place to volunteer!

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I hope that gives you more insight into the public health semester of the DI! If you have any more questions, reach out to me on Instagram!!

xx hails