Monday, December 17, 2012

Dietetic Internship Community Rotations: 17 Weeks

This week I will be wrapping up my final week of my 17 week community rotations.  I have been rotating through weight management, bariatric surgery, WIC, long-term care, nutrition education, diabetes, and  research.  These past weeks have been a blur of information.  I have learned so much information during each rotation that by the end of the day I felt like my head was about to explode.  The exhaustion at the end of the day is worth it because I know that I am going into a field that I love.

So far, the rotations I enjoyed the most were weight management and bariatric surgery.  Everyone has a different story on how they got to where they are and why they want to lose their excess weight.   Because of their uniqueness, their weight loss journey is more individualized.  Each conversation with patients will have the same basic structure, but they will still be different because each person has different struggles and strengths.  Additionally, because this population tend to want to change, they are more apt to come to their appointments.

I have discovered several aspects I do not enjoy about outpatient care.  I don't like experiencing not knowing if a patient is going to show up for an appointment.  This happened a lot during my diabetes rotation.  Patients had to make an appointment to see a registered dietitian to learn how to manage their diabetes, but during the two weeks I was there, only 40% of the scheduled patients showed up for their appointments. 

Starting in the new year, I will be starting 7 weeks of foodservice rotations.  I'm not sure what to expect, but it is rumored that there will be days I to report by 5AM.  Those will be not fun mornings!

But it's all worth it... right?

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