A Day in the Life of a Private Practice Dietitian

I have been getting asked a lot lately how I structure my day and what does a day looks like for me now that I am full-time. Pretty much no day is ever the same for me since I never know who is going to call for an appointment, what important email comes through, or what last minute change in my schedule needs to happen. I broke down my day into two options: seeing clients/having classes and a "work" day so you can see what it looks like to be me all day long :)

A Day With Appointments (My Wednesday)
6:45am - Get ready for the day, eat, make coffee, pack my bag, check emails
8:00am - Head over for a committee meeting that I am Vice-Chair for, send out committee emails
9:30am - Chat with a fellow entrepreneur post meeting
10:00am - Leave to head downtown for my cooking class
10:45am - 1:45pm - Prep, have class, clean-up, chat with staff in the building, etc
2:15pm - Home. Eat lunch, check emails, log class information/expenses.
2:30pm -4:00pm - Make any insurance-related calls before offices close. Call back voicemails (if any). Work on posts for FB & IG. Follow-up with clients for paperwork needed for appointments.
4:00pm - Gym
5:30pm - Make and eat dinner. Usually, I take this time to also clean the kitchen.
7:00pm - Follow-up on emails. Work on committee related minutes/events. Prep for the next day. Sometimes I will have a late-night appointment at 6pm. If so, I will bill and write the reports right after.
8:30pm - Continue working on business-related items (could be accounting, billing, lesson plans, blogs, handouts, etc) or watch Netflix or read a non-business book.
10:00pm - Bed

If there is one thing I have learned while being in private practice it is to not overbook yourself. Even the days where I don't see clients I try not to overbook. Something always comes up to rock the boat! Going along with this, I have learning to go with the flow a lot more. Appointments change. Classes get rescheduled. Things in life just happen. If I get all stressed out and worked up about something, it just makes my day chaotic and negative. I take things as they happen and simply move on.

A Day Without Appointments (My Monday or Friday)
8:30am - Get ready for the day, make coffee, check emails, make pancakes (because why not), make my to-do list (prioritize)
9:30am - 1:30pm - Followed-up on calls. Booked a new class so I had to submit an invoice + signed contract. Write lessons for the new class. Follow-up on unpaid insurance claims. Follow-up on missing paperwork for upcoming appointments. Chat with another RD about insurance issues. Plan blog and social media posts. Brainstorm ideas for business. Input any paid claims into my accounting software. Usually Fridays I do laundry and vacuum in the midst of all of this.
1:30pm - 2:00pm - Make and eat lunch. Some days, this ends up just being a smoothie for convenience.
2:00pm - 5:30pm - Follow-up on more insurance-related issues. Chat with other RDs about insurance. Send appointment reminders to clients. Prep for appointments/classes for next week. Answer emails. Follow-up on patient calls. Schedule appointments as they come + send initial emails with paperwork. Mondays are my food shopping day normally so I also hit the food store mid-day too.
5:30pm - May go to the gym or if not eat dinner a bit earlier. Usually, prepping dinner involves emptying the dishwasher, putting dishes/groceries away, cleaning, etc, all while cooking.
7:00pm - Follow-up on emails. Work on committee related minutes/events. Prep for the next day.
8:30pm - Continue working on business-related items or watch Netflix or read a non-business book.
10:00pm - Bed

My days where I don't see clients usually end up being the "busiest" since I push everything office-related off until then. Sometimes, checking my emails takes 2-minutes and other times I end up back and forth about something for 10-minutes. As I mentioned earlier, I never really know how a day is going to go. Some days, I get through everything I needed to and can relax by 3 or 4pm. Other days, I work until 7 or 8pm, eat a late dinner, and pretty much go to bed right after. There are some days that I need a mental break so I will go out for a mid-day walk or watch a show. Again, just going with the flow really helps my sanity and productivity.

If you are in private practice, what does your day look like? Anyone reading this surprised at what I do all day?

Tips for Applying to Dietetic Internships

If you are interested in going the internship/RD route right after college, here are a few tips to help you guide you through that horrible process. 

Personal Statement

Your personal statement is one of the most important things that internships look at. This is the piece of yourself that they get to see before interviewing you. Internships have changed a bit. Instead of just hearing your life story and how you got into dietetics, they also want to see leadership skills and professional experiences. The internships you apply to will have a section on their website that lists the questions you will need to include in your personal statement. My advice is to start with a short blurb (no more than a paragraph) about yourself, how you got into dietetics, etc. Then, continue by answering the questions asked and really highlighting your accomplishments in dietetics. Start early on your statement. It might take a while to figure out what you want to write about. Also, get as many people as you can to proofread it!

DICAS

This is the system you will use to upload all documents for each internship you are applying to. This includes: resume, personal statement, transcripts, references, additional application materials, etc. DICAS has a lot of help on their website (I definitely got good use out of that). There is a certain date when DICAS will open for each internship round, so keep track of that date. 

D&D Digital Matching

This is the best part of the internship! Not! D&D is a system where you rank all of your internship choices IN THE ORDER THAT YOU WANT THEM. That last part is very important. There was a lot of confusion when I was applying over whether or not you ranked the internships in terms of which one you thought you had the best chance of getting. That is not the case. If you want to be double sure, you can always call D&D. They are very nice and used to dealing with crazy dietetic students. 

Basically how it works is you rank your internships from 1-5 (or however many you have). Let's say your first choice is Aramark. You think it is kind of a stretch, but you apply anyway. You're second choice is maybe an internship you know you could get (Marywood University). When matching day comes, if you got Aramark, you will be notified that you did. If you didn't get Aramark, but your second choice (Marywood) listed you as an intern, you will get that one. If you had also gotten your 3rd, 4th, and 5th internship, you will not know. It stops at the internship, based on how you ranked them. 

How Many to Apply To

Dietetic internships are very competitive and down right stressful to apply for. I always tell people it was worse than if you applied to grad school. So, that being said, you really don`t want to go through this process more than once. 

I applied to 7 internships. 2 were places that I wanted, but were a stretch for me. 3 were ones I was pretty sure I had, but couldn`t be positive. 2 were places I knew I would get but didn't really want (safety schools). On-site programs in your area are often hard to get into (require high GPA and a lot of experience) and tons of people, all very qualified, apply. Distance programs often require a lower GPA but still experience. Coordinated programs often have the lowest GPA requirement and experience. Know yourself and your abilities before picking your internships. 

There are many factors to consider when looking at internships. There were a few programs that I thought were equal in how they were structured. I then ranked those schools based on how much their tuition was. It is quite costly to apply to internships. D&D, DICAS, and your internship programs all have separate fees. Total, I would factor in about $300. Between 4 and 7 programs is a good range. 

Final Tips

Spend time looking at internship programs and their admission requirements early. Some programs offer more community experience, so if you are interested in community work, check them out. Some programs have longer in-patient experiences. Get a binder of your internship materials started early. Start working on your references and your personal statement. If you get prepared early, you will be less stressed out when the application time comes.

Good luck!