Clinical Rotation
I actually had an interesting experience setting up my clinical rotations at the Sharp Healthcare Hospitals in San Diego, CA. All previous San Diego interns had completed their clinical rotations at Alvarado Hospital, however, Sodexo lost this account right at the same time I was accepted to the distance internship. Therefore, I used my contacts I had made from working as a diet clerk at Sharp and I was accepted as the first Sharp/Sodexo intern! Now starting this year, there will be two more San Diego interns completing their clinical rotations at Sharp as well! My preceptors were all kind, professional and willing to go the extra mile to educate me on everything they do in their jobs as clinical RDs. In addition to the typical clinical dietetic practices, I was exposed to a variety of hospital scenarios including attending and participating in the endocrinologist's TPN nutrition support team meetings, teaching the cardiac rehab classes, witnessing a Fiber-optic endoscopic swallowing evaluation (FEES), seeing how the metabolic cart works and attending skin rounds! I was also lucky enough to perform original research in the ICU for my professional research project. As a result of this project, there is now an RD on the Sharp Ethics Committee to help advise about nutrition support at end of life care. I really enjoyed my clinical rotation and feel so happy that my successful experience has opened the doors for future San Diego Sodexo interns!
Long Term Rotation
I spent one (very full) week working at LifeHouse San Diego Healthcare Center. Melissa, my preceptor, acknowledged that I already had a good amount of clinical experience and gave me the opportunity to perform resident screening and assessments on my own, as well as enter the MDS information, help manage the food service department, attend director admissions meetings, and collaborate my nutrition goals with speech therapy, nurses and the discharge team. Before I started, Melissa had come up with a few Performance Improvement Projects (PIPs) based on her Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI) goals for me to work on. One PIP was to track and analyze tray delivery times to each unit, with the outcome being to find the root of the inconsistent delivery times and fix the problem, or provide more realistic delivery times to the units so expectations would be met and exceeded. Another PIP was for me to design and implement a resident dietary preference sheet to hang in each of the five nurses' stations. The goal was to have the CNAs write down requests so they would be communicated to the kitchen in a clear and concise manner, and therefore increase resident satisfaction with meals. I really enjoyed my LTC rotation, especially after recently completing my clinical research project regarding ethics at end of life care. I appreciated the philosophy practiced in this environment of patient centered care and liberalized diets.
Clinical Specialty Rotation
For my clinical specialty I worked for two weeks at Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital, a mental illness hospital with an eating disorders outpatient program. During this rotation I mainly observed and assisted my preceptor, Amy. She had an incredible ability to work with these very sick patients. We ate breakfast and lunch with the patients and conducted a daily nutrition and wellness class. I appreciated the team-based approach to this program, as we worked closely with the therapists to make sure we were providing effective individualized treatment plans. I also liked the long term relationship the RD was able to build with the patients to ensure healthy weight gain through an intuitive eating approach, which was instructed and demonstrated at meal times!
Food Service Management Rotation
As many other Sodexo interns before me, I completed my Food Service Management rotation with a very competent preceptor, Colleen Gittins. The only difference was that previous interns had worked with Colleen at Nokia, and right before I started, Nokia was bought by Microsoft. Therefore, I had a very interesting experience learning how Sodexo handles this type of corporate account transition. With Colleen's assistance, my projects were aimed at increasing client satisfaction by making sure we were offering everything possible to keep the remaining employees happy with the in house café. During this rotation I conducted a company wide 2-day survey and based on the results implemented an entire new café station, which consisted of made-to-order paninis and brick oven pizzas. I also had the opportunity to spend two days helping Colleen set up a VIP catered event at another one of her corporate accounts, Cox Communications. I enjoyed the management rotation because I was able to make real improvements to the organization, as well as build strong relationships with the food service and corporate client staff!
Community Rotation
To my surprise, I loved my community rotation! I think my favorite thing about this rotation was that I was helping people that were purposely seeking out dietary counseling. For the majority of my community rotation I was with my preceptor, Annie Scott, RD at the Imperial Beach Health Clinic. Here, I was exposed to a variety of situations from childhood type 2 diabetes onset, to bariatric surgery candidates, to substance abuse, to people just trying to make healthy dietary adjustments. Annie let me develop my motivational interviewing and counseling skills by always having me conduct the sessions as she observed. Annie was impressed with my ability to develop a good rapport with a variety of clients and my creativity at offering individualized nutrition advice. I spent the last part of my community rotation at a maternity home educating pregnant women on healthy cooking and eating ideas. I brought this group of women on a grocery store tour following the Cooking Matters guidelines. I loved working with the community; I felt though I was a positive influence in many lives!
Independent Elective Rotation
I had a unique opportunity that basically fell on my lap for my IER. An old colleague knew I went back to school for nutrition and asked me to be the nutrition expert for the new online magazine she was starting called, The New Betty. I quickly agreed and then later realized this would make an excellent independent elective. She and I got together every month via Skype, since she lives in Napa Valley, and came up with an interesting and relevant nutrition topics for me to write about. In addition to writing the articles, I remained current on health-related trends by attending nutrition workshops and events, farmer's markets and live cooking demonstrations. Below are links to my New Betty articles that have been published so far!