Hello! My name is Megan Martin and I am a dietetic intern in region 2 Southern Massachusetts. Currently, I have completed my clinical rotations and I am heading into my food service management rotation soon. My experience over the last few months during clinical has been nothing short of amazing! As an undergraduate student, I always looked forward to applying all that I learned in the classroom to the actual clinical setting. This longing of mine finally became very real during these rotations as I was pleasantly surprised at the level of independence my clinical preceptors allowed me to have throughout each clinical rotation. At the beginning of clinical, my preceptors made it a point to ask me my preferred learning styles and how they could best support me. I explained that I am typically and “analyzer” and a “doer.” Taking this into consideration, my preceptors structured our days to allow me to discuss (aka – analyze) each patient’s case before I went to visit the patients on my own to learn by doing. Furthermore, during my advanced clinical rotation, I spent 4 weeks working solely in the critical care unit.
At my clinical site, the critical care dietitian attends interdisciplinary rounds in the critical care unit from 9:30AM-1PM every day. During my 4 weeks of advanced clinical, I stood in for the critical care dietitian at rounds each day. This experience was so valuable as it helped me to become much more comfortable working as a member of the interdisciplinary team. In addition, rounding with the critical care team exposed me to many key factors that the medical team takes into consideration for each patient, several of which have relevance to the dietitians role. Thus, the knowledge I gained during this time specifically will be essential to carry with me in order to become the best clinician I can be as a future dietitian.
Moreover, the sense of community I have felt as a Sodexo intern and relationships I’ve developed with my preceptors and region director have been delightful, as well as a key component to my success so far in the internship. Each person I have connected with has been so supportive and provided me with personalized guidance based on my career goals and interests. Knowing that this support network is here for me as a Sodexo intern is certainly reassuring during challenging times. With this, I am truly excited to enter into the remaining rotations I have during this internship!
