I'm almost through my 4th week of my IPC rotation! Last week, I rotated with the RD in the ICU. This week, I rotated with the RD on the general patient floors. I'm not sure which one I like better at this point.
The ICU rounds are really intense! We (myself and the RD) rotate patient rooms with nurses, pharmacists, the intensivist, and a speech therapist. It is really interesting to talk so in depth about a patient. The intense part is when they start talking about medications, interactions, and using big medical jargon. I definitely take a lot of notes! The one thing about ICU, is you don't get to interact with patients much. You look at a ton of labs and do ventilation calculations (calculating energy requirements for a patient on a ventilator, taking into account the medications they are on). You also write a lot of TF or TPN recommendations, but that's about it.
When I rotate on the patient floors, I get to do a lot more educations (Coumadin, CHO-controlled diet, Renal diet, etc). You really get to chat with the patient about their home eating and the diet they are on. You might recommend/initiate a supplement and you track what the patient eats as well. Some patients are way more talkative and inviting than others. Also, don't judge anyone by their age. I met a patient today, who was in her 90s, still living on her own and cooking all her meals. She was lively and in relatively good health. Later today, I went on a home care visit and met a lady in her early 60s. She was using a walker, had uncontrolled diabetes (BG levels in the 500-600s), and was achy and in pain. She was an "interesting" visit, to say the least. Some of my favorite quotes from her were, "I only buy pork chops to chew on the bone," "Why do I even have to eat protein?" and my favorite, "I may eat some spar-a-grass tonight (aka asparagus)."
Some of my other favorite moments/quotes of the week were:
1. "My weight has been stable at home, but high. But that is because I eat a lot. I eat cake cookies, candy. I know I shouldn't but I do anyway." (Patient had: T2DM, CHF, Obesity, Renal failure etc)
2. "Your name sounds like a nice soft kitty." (From an 80 year old patient to me. What she meant, I don't know).
3. Patient: "You won't believe me when I say why I am here. The KKK are after me and my neighborhood and I can't believe it is not covered on the news yet." (enough said).
4. Meeting a 3 year old patient in PEDs with a PEG tube in. He was so cute and sweet! He was born premature, but looked as normal as could be now. He was my first PEDS patient thus far :)
So far, I really like the rotation. It is very busy! I come in and do research on patients (medical/food and nutrition history, diet orders, etc). I calculate TF and calorie/protein/fluid requirements on a daily basis. I do all of the nutrition assessments when I rotate with the RD and I have been doing most of the patient educations. I feel like I am getting to know some things like the back of my hand. I really like the fast paced nature of the hospital. It is always different and there are always, always interesting patients to see :)
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
First Week of my Inpatient Clinical Rotation
This week, I completed my first full week of my inpatient clinical rotation. I've found myself really liking being in the hospital. Each day is so different. One of the best things about being in clinical is there is always a variety of diseases, diets, and interesting medical histories.
Every day when I came in, I would research the new patients (needing initial assessments) and follow-ups for the day. I sifted through EMRs on the computer to find the patient's height, weight, BMI, medications, allergies, I&Os, diet orders, and lab values. Using the information I researched, I would calculate the patient's energy, protein, and fluid needs. When the RD came in, we would go out on the floor and do patient rounds. After the first few days, I was charting on all of the patients we saw (with supervision).
There were some really interesting patients this week. One lady had her stomach removed a few years ago and her intestine stretched to create a pouch. I ended up calculating her tube feeding recommendation. She was one of the many tube feeding recommendations I calculated this week (and 1 TPN). Another patient I saw, had a PEJ tube and a G-tube for drainage due to cancer. The patient ended up excreting almost 3 liters of fluid and was severely hypovolemic and had hyponatremia.
I also saw 2 swallowing evaluations this week. I was in the radiology room with the patient and technicians. They would give the patient a small amount of food (applesauce, cottage cheese, etc) with barium in it. They would then have a screen where you saw the food enter the patient's mouth and esophagus. Both patients I saw had food get stuck in the esophagus, due to poor swallowing abilities. One patient ended up back on NPO and the other was advanced to pureed. Just as a side note, I had to taste test a pureed diet for an assignment. One item I tasted was pureed chicken. It tasted like gross chicken mashed potatoes. I would definitely not suggest trying that if you don't have to.
One of the hardest things in clinical was seeing patients with a laundry list of diseases and medications. A lot of the issues were diet related. I saw a few patients with amputations due to uncontrolled diabetes and bedridden patients due to their morbid obesity. The craziest part was that they were still adamant on not changing their diet to a healthier one. It was rewarding to talk to a patient that was interested in what you had to say. One of the patients I got to educate had a cardiac diet. We talked about how he could lower his sodium intake at home and the importance of small changes to make a habit stick.
I really found it to be helpful to have a clipboard and small binder with equations (calculating protein, calories, ideal body weight, and fluid needs), lab values (and what they mean for disease states), and tube feeding information. You could also use an IPad if your facility allows you to. I also brought a small notebook on rounds with me so I could jot down information about the patient and tips for performing a nutrition assessment. It definitely gets easier the more you do it.
Next week, I will be with another RD that does the ICU rounds. I'm really excited to participate in interdisciplinary meetings on patients.
Every day when I came in, I would research the new patients (needing initial assessments) and follow-ups for the day. I sifted through EMRs on the computer to find the patient's height, weight, BMI, medications, allergies, I&Os, diet orders, and lab values. Using the information I researched, I would calculate the patient's energy, protein, and fluid needs. When the RD came in, we would go out on the floor and do patient rounds. After the first few days, I was charting on all of the patients we saw (with supervision).
There were some really interesting patients this week. One lady had her stomach removed a few years ago and her intestine stretched to create a pouch. I ended up calculating her tube feeding recommendation. She was one of the many tube feeding recommendations I calculated this week (and 1 TPN). Another patient I saw, had a PEJ tube and a G-tube for drainage due to cancer. The patient ended up excreting almost 3 liters of fluid and was severely hypovolemic and had hyponatremia.
I also saw 2 swallowing evaluations this week. I was in the radiology room with the patient and technicians. They would give the patient a small amount of food (applesauce, cottage cheese, etc) with barium in it. They would then have a screen where you saw the food enter the patient's mouth and esophagus. Both patients I saw had food get stuck in the esophagus, due to poor swallowing abilities. One patient ended up back on NPO and the other was advanced to pureed. Just as a side note, I had to taste test a pureed diet for an assignment. One item I tasted was pureed chicken. It tasted like gross chicken mashed potatoes. I would definitely not suggest trying that if you don't have to.
One of the hardest things in clinical was seeing patients with a laundry list of diseases and medications. A lot of the issues were diet related. I saw a few patients with amputations due to uncontrolled diabetes and bedridden patients due to their morbid obesity. The craziest part was that they were still adamant on not changing their diet to a healthier one. It was rewarding to talk to a patient that was interested in what you had to say. One of the patients I got to educate had a cardiac diet. We talked about how he could lower his sodium intake at home and the importance of small changes to make a habit stick.
I really found it to be helpful to have a clipboard and small binder with equations (calculating protein, calories, ideal body weight, and fluid needs), lab values (and what they mean for disease states), and tube feeding information. You could also use an IPad if your facility allows you to. I also brought a small notebook on rounds with me so I could jot down information about the patient and tips for performing a nutrition assessment. It definitely gets easier the more you do it.
Next week, I will be with another RD that does the ICU rounds. I'm really excited to participate in interdisciplinary meetings on patients.
Friday, January 3, 2014
The Start of My Inpatient Clinical Rotation
As of today, I am 18 weeks into my dietetic internship! Just to recap, I completed food service management with school nutrition education and community (at WIC). I am currently in my inpatient rotation in a 200-bed hospital.
I have only been at my clinical facility for 2 days now, but, I really like it. I'm pretty surprised too. I used to work as a Food and Nutrition Aide at a hospital and I hated it! Most of the patients didn't care what you had to say. They just wanted to "go home and eat their bacon" (a quote I heard fairly often of cardiac diet patients). It is different being with the RD and seen as more of a professional.
My first day, I mostly had orientation to the facility. I was introduced to all the hospitals procedures and protocols. I spent a lot of time learning their EMR system with all the patient information. My preceptor gave me a booklet with equations (for calculating calories and protein for certain BMIs) and tube feeding protocols. This is literally my go-to book for the rotation. If you don't receive something like this, ask your facility what procedures they use to calculate calorie and protein needs. You can make your own sort of "cheat sheet."
My second day was where most of the action occurred. I learned how to complete a nutrition profile for new patients that needed nutrition consults. This involved researching the patient past medical history, current medications, diagnoses, lab values, BMI, anthropometrics, and calculating requirements for calories, protein, and fluid. I was able to shadow the RD for the second half of the day. I got to see a range of medical diagnoses in such a short time; congestive heart failure, acute renal failure, hypertension, dementia, hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism, and more! I even got to chart on 2 of the patients :)
When I first started, I was afraid that I wouldn't know what to say to patients. The more I learned about diets in clinical, the less I felt I knew! After the first few days, I began to feel more comfortable. You find out everything you need to know about the patient prior to going in to do an assessment. The assessments are usually short (<30minutes). Also, my facility (and probably many others), have access to the nutrition care manual, which lists every disease, lab values, educational handouts, and more. So, if you don't know something, you definitely have the tools to find out.
Just some tips I have for the first few days of inpatient clinical:
-Ask as many questions as you can about nutrition assessments and patient procedure. I think it really helps to hear it explained different ways by different RDs.
-Practice finding nutrition information on patients. The one RD had me on a nutrition profile hunt my first day. I would get a patient and find out their BMI, calorie needs, medications, etc. It helped me to navigate through their system and to research different medications.
-Follow the RDs on their rounds; even if they don't outright ask you, ask them!
-If the facility has access to the nutrition care manual, peruse through it. It is such a great resource (it is expensive to buy).
-This website was useful too: http://www.uptodate.com/home
Hopefully, I will be seeing patients on my own in the next few weeks! :)
I have only been at my clinical facility for 2 days now, but, I really like it. I'm pretty surprised too. I used to work as a Food and Nutrition Aide at a hospital and I hated it! Most of the patients didn't care what you had to say. They just wanted to "go home and eat their bacon" (a quote I heard fairly often of cardiac diet patients). It is different being with the RD and seen as more of a professional.
My first day, I mostly had orientation to the facility. I was introduced to all the hospitals procedures and protocols. I spent a lot of time learning their EMR system with all the patient information. My preceptor gave me a booklet with equations (for calculating calories and protein for certain BMIs) and tube feeding protocols. This is literally my go-to book for the rotation. If you don't receive something like this, ask your facility what procedures they use to calculate calorie and protein needs. You can make your own sort of "cheat sheet."
My second day was where most of the action occurred. I learned how to complete a nutrition profile for new patients that needed nutrition consults. This involved researching the patient past medical history, current medications, diagnoses, lab values, BMI, anthropometrics, and calculating requirements for calories, protein, and fluid. I was able to shadow the RD for the second half of the day. I got to see a range of medical diagnoses in such a short time; congestive heart failure, acute renal failure, hypertension, dementia, hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism, and more! I even got to chart on 2 of the patients :)
When I first started, I was afraid that I wouldn't know what to say to patients. The more I learned about diets in clinical, the less I felt I knew! After the first few days, I began to feel more comfortable. You find out everything you need to know about the patient prior to going in to do an assessment. The assessments are usually short (<30minutes). Also, my facility (and probably many others), have access to the nutrition care manual, which lists every disease, lab values, educational handouts, and more. So, if you don't know something, you definitely have the tools to find out.
Just some tips I have for the first few days of inpatient clinical:
-Ask as many questions as you can about nutrition assessments and patient procedure. I think it really helps to hear it explained different ways by different RDs.
-Practice finding nutrition information on patients. The one RD had me on a nutrition profile hunt my first day. I would get a patient and find out their BMI, calorie needs, medications, etc. It helped me to navigate through their system and to research different medications.
-Follow the RDs on their rounds; even if they don't outright ask you, ask them!
-If the facility has access to the nutrition care manual, peruse through it. It is such a great resource (it is expensive to buy).
-This website was useful too: http://www.uptodate.com/home
Hopefully, I will be seeing patients on my own in the next few weeks! :)
Friday, November 29, 2013
Community Rotation: First Week at WIC
I survived my first 7 days at WIC! Only 13 more to go and trust me, I am counting down to the end. For my internship, I spend 120 hours at WIC and 8 of those hours at a non-profit or government agency. This is only my second rotation (finished 13 weeks of FSM and School Nutrition Education). I can't wait to finished up this rotation; not only because it is stressful, but because I will have 2 weeks off before I start my in-patient clinical rotation :)
So, here are some of my tips for your Community/WIC rotations:
Things to Do Before Your Rotation:
1. Brush up on WIC packages, how participants get certified, and issues in both pregnancy and infants (mainly iron-deficiency).
2. Know your assignment sheet! My rotation is only 4 weeks long; so it is important to know how to schedule assignments efficiently.
Things to Do Your First Day:
1. Sit in with as many Nutritionists as you can. Get a feel for the different styles of counseling.
2. Grab as many brochures as you can in the office. These are really useful in counseling and for quick reference.
Things I learned:
1. No matter how nice you are, some participants will not give you the time of day. Just continue to be nice and try to counteract their rudeness.
2. You will learn everything you need to know about WIC within your first week. Someone told me this before I started and it was definitely true! I sat in on multiple counseling sessions my first day and I quickly began to get the hang of the WIC packages and most common problems (iron-deficiency anemia, high juice intake, low vegetable intake, etc).
3. Bring a laptop/assignments to work on! If it rained at my location, very very few people came into the office. That being said, you will have a lot of downtime.
4. Don't be afraid to ask questions about the charting system. Some nutritionists I sat in with, would just start typing their normal note, and I would have no clue what they were doing. They might not even think about showing you what they are doing, so just jump in and ask, or scoot in closer to see.
5. WIC used a really interesting format of chart note: A (Assessment), B (Biochemical), C (Clinical), D (Dietary), E (Environmental: mostly if anyone smoked in the house), O (Other), G (Goal: These are mostly added after the participant leaves). It was a lot simpler than I was imagining; however, with the short amount of time between participants, it is perfect for them.
Hope these tips help you on your RD journey!
So, here are some of my tips for your Community/WIC rotations:
Things to Do Before Your Rotation:
1. Brush up on WIC packages, how participants get certified, and issues in both pregnancy and infants (mainly iron-deficiency).
2. Know your assignment sheet! My rotation is only 4 weeks long; so it is important to know how to schedule assignments efficiently.
Things to Do Your First Day:
1. Sit in with as many Nutritionists as you can. Get a feel for the different styles of counseling.
2. Grab as many brochures as you can in the office. These are really useful in counseling and for quick reference.
Things I learned:
1. No matter how nice you are, some participants will not give you the time of day. Just continue to be nice and try to counteract their rudeness.
2. You will learn everything you need to know about WIC within your first week. Someone told me this before I started and it was definitely true! I sat in on multiple counseling sessions my first day and I quickly began to get the hang of the WIC packages and most common problems (iron-deficiency anemia, high juice intake, low vegetable intake, etc).
3. Bring a laptop/assignments to work on! If it rained at my location, very very few people came into the office. That being said, you will have a lot of downtime.
4. Don't be afraid to ask questions about the charting system. Some nutritionists I sat in with, would just start typing their normal note, and I would have no clue what they were doing. They might not even think about showing you what they are doing, so just jump in and ask, or scoot in closer to see.
5. WIC used a really interesting format of chart note: A (Assessment), B (Biochemical), C (Clinical), D (Dietary), E (Environmental: mostly if anyone smoked in the house), O (Other), G (Goal: These are mostly added after the participant leaves). It was a lot simpler than I was imagining; however, with the short amount of time between participants, it is perfect for them.
Hope these tips help you on your RD journey!
Thursday, November 21, 2013
End of FSM Rotation
Last week, I finished my first rotation of my dietetic internship (Foodservice management and school nutrition education)! It felt like the 13 weeks flew by!
Some of the things I did during my rotation included:
-Menu planning: created a 6-week cycle menu for the school district; input menu items into PrimeroEdge system (similar to that of NutriKids); assigned menus for the district; created new recipes (and taste tested them); ran nutrient analysis of the menu items to ensure that they met the guidelines for SLP.
-Kitchen work: observed/participated in ordering, inventory, serving, food prep, temperature/sanitation check, etc.
-Lesson planning: taught a 3-day lesson for 6th grade students; taught a fitness/nutrition lesson for 1st and 2nd graders; in-service for staff members.
-Research project: I created a new chickpea salad, had it taste-tested, and put it on the menu. I was trying to determine if increasing student involvement in the planning of new items and implementing the changes they made, would increase consumption.
-Miscellaneous work: answered phone calls in the office; organized nutrition materials, made posters for events, etc.
Things I learned throughout my rotation:
1. Always, always, always ask questions! Sometimes, I felt like I was bothering people asking them; however, everyone was really friendly and there to help. The internship is to help you learn more about nutrition, so asking questions about things you are not sure of is needed.
2. Be confident in what you know and how you speak about it. If you sound unsure, people won't trust what you say. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you know more than you think!
3. Before a food service rotation (in a school district), brush up on food safety, the school lunch program, and food science (I definitely didn't study much on food science until I realized I needed to know some for my rotation).
4. Nurses would call a lot about carbohydrate counts for menu items in order to give insulin to the kids with diabetes. If you find yourself answering these types of questions be sure to have menu nutritionals on hand (I found nurses to be calling last minute and frantic).
5. Get as many resources as you can from the RD or FS manager. My RD had a SafeServ book, Inman's Review, and miscellaneous lesson/training binders, which will all be helpful in studying for the RD exam. She also mentioned she only used Inman's Review for the RD exam and passed the first time.
6. Take the initiative on projects and tasks whenever you can. Not only will this give you great experience, but, it will also show the staff you are committed and a team player. Even doing small tasks without complaint are noticed.
7. If you find downtime in your rotation, read food service related materials (I found this to be helpful when taking my comprehensive exam) and/or ask what else you could be doing to help.
8. Be flexible! Things will not always go to plan. Just roll with the punches and do what you can to make the situation run smoothly.
9. Accept the changes that happen. This kind of goes along with number 8. One day you may have planned to do x, y, and z; however, you may get something new thrown your way. An employee (or 5) might call out, and you need to help in the kitchen. A truck may have broken down and you need to drive the manager around. Anything can change in foodservice! (By the way, these things have all happened in my rotation).
10. Be ahead/aware of all your assignments/tasks. You never know when something will come up that relates to an assignment. It really helps to have your assignment sheet on hand.
Overall, I had an amazing rotation. It was stressful at some points; however, in the end, I wouldn't have changed anything. I really feel like I developed/fine tuned my leadership and interpersonal skills.
Hopefully, my experiences will help you in preparing/finishing your food service rotations!
Some of the things I did during my rotation included:
-Menu planning: created a 6-week cycle menu for the school district; input menu items into PrimeroEdge system (similar to that of NutriKids); assigned menus for the district; created new recipes (and taste tested them); ran nutrient analysis of the menu items to ensure that they met the guidelines for SLP.
-Kitchen work: observed/participated in ordering, inventory, serving, food prep, temperature/sanitation check, etc.
-Lesson planning: taught a 3-day lesson for 6th grade students; taught a fitness/nutrition lesson for 1st and 2nd graders; in-service for staff members.
-Research project: I created a new chickpea salad, had it taste-tested, and put it on the menu. I was trying to determine if increasing student involvement in the planning of new items and implementing the changes they made, would increase consumption.
-Miscellaneous work: answered phone calls in the office; organized nutrition materials, made posters for events, etc.
Things I learned throughout my rotation:
1. Always, always, always ask questions! Sometimes, I felt like I was bothering people asking them; however, everyone was really friendly and there to help. The internship is to help you learn more about nutrition, so asking questions about things you are not sure of is needed.
2. Be confident in what you know and how you speak about it. If you sound unsure, people won't trust what you say. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you know more than you think!
3. Before a food service rotation (in a school district), brush up on food safety, the school lunch program, and food science (I definitely didn't study much on food science until I realized I needed to know some for my rotation).
4. Nurses would call a lot about carbohydrate counts for menu items in order to give insulin to the kids with diabetes. If you find yourself answering these types of questions be sure to have menu nutritionals on hand (I found nurses to be calling last minute and frantic).
5. Get as many resources as you can from the RD or FS manager. My RD had a SafeServ book, Inman's Review, and miscellaneous lesson/training binders, which will all be helpful in studying for the RD exam. She also mentioned she only used Inman's Review for the RD exam and passed the first time.
6. Take the initiative on projects and tasks whenever you can. Not only will this give you great experience, but, it will also show the staff you are committed and a team player. Even doing small tasks without complaint are noticed.
7. If you find downtime in your rotation, read food service related materials (I found this to be helpful when taking my comprehensive exam) and/or ask what else you could be doing to help.
8. Be flexible! Things will not always go to plan. Just roll with the punches and do what you can to make the situation run smoothly.
9. Accept the changes that happen. This kind of goes along with number 8. One day you may have planned to do x, y, and z; however, you may get something new thrown your way. An employee (or 5) might call out, and you need to help in the kitchen. A truck may have broken down and you need to drive the manager around. Anything can change in foodservice! (By the way, these things have all happened in my rotation).
10. Be ahead/aware of all your assignments/tasks. You never know when something will come up that relates to an assignment. It really helps to have your assignment sheet on hand.
Overall, I had an amazing rotation. It was stressful at some points; however, in the end, I wouldn't have changed anything. I really feel like I developed/fine tuned my leadership and interpersonal skills.
Hopefully, my experiences will help you in preparing/finishing your food service rotations!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
FSM Week 9: My Nutrition Promotional Event
Starting on Monday, I will be in my 10th week of my FSM rotation of my dietetic internship. This past week has been so fun and exciting; definitely one of my favorite parts of the internship (besides teaching).
October 14-18th was National School Lunch Week. I decided to run my nutrition promotion event (part of one of my rotation assignments) during that week. My event theme was NSLW: Fun with Fruits and Vegetables! I highlighted the featured vegetables and fruits on the menu. Since my facility was in between RDs and my new preceptor was super busy, I planned most of the event on my own. I spent a lot of time coordinating with the elementary school I would running my event in, talking to staff members, getting the PR coordinator involved, holding meetings, and creating materials/prizes for the kids. I started planning my event about 1 month in advance. I created bookmarks for the students (laminated them as well), brochures to send home to the parents, flyers for my table, and recipe cards for teachers and support staff. I also made posters highlighting the different fruits and vegetables with fun facts and nutrition information. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I just hung posters at the elementary school. Tuesday and Thursday I was at the school running different contests (guess the bean content of the jar and trivia questions) and giving out stickers/bookmarks for students who had a fruit or a vegetable on their tray.
About a week prior to the event, I discovered that the office I was working in had costumes in their closet; a pea pod and a banana. I was way too excited about wearing them! I also found out that the press would be coming on Thursday to interview me and take pictures!
My first day, Tuesday, of my event went so well! It was a bit crazy because the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade lunches overlapped. I felt like I was running around crazy (in a pea pod costume) trying to get student guesses for my bean costume. I also ran a lucky tray, in which 1-2 students from each lunch had a sticker on the bottom of their trays indicating they won a prize. Even with all of the craziness, the event went better than I could have hoped. The kids got so involved! One of my favorite parts was reading what the kids wrote on their guessing slips for the bean jar. One first grader wrote for a guess, "200, or 198." Other students wrote the #1 followed by as many zeros as would fill the line. (Total bean count for the jar was 16,438).
Thursday ran a lot smoother than Tuesday did. Since all of the kids had guessed the beans on Tuesday, I spent time taking pictures, handing out prizes, and asking trivia questions. The kids were so excited about the costumes, contests, and prizes. One student said, "You should wear that banana costume all the time, so I always know where you are." Another student said, "We should do stuff like this each week. Put it on the agenda." A lot of the students asked when I was coming back and what costume I would be wearing. It was so exciting to see the kids smiling and having a good time, all in the name of healthy eating!
While I was running around the cafeteria in my various costumes, teachers were saying things like, "Wow you must have drawn the short end of the stick," "Oh, the joys of being an intern." That was exactly the opposite of what I was thinking! I was more than excited to be prancing around in different costumes. I chose to wear the costumes (in place of a colored shirt). Seeing the kids' faces get excited was priceless to me. I wished they had more costumes for me to wear :)
October 14-18th was National School Lunch Week. I decided to run my nutrition promotion event (part of one of my rotation assignments) during that week. My event theme was NSLW: Fun with Fruits and Vegetables! I highlighted the featured vegetables and fruits on the menu. Since my facility was in between RDs and my new preceptor was super busy, I planned most of the event on my own. I spent a lot of time coordinating with the elementary school I would running my event in, talking to staff members, getting the PR coordinator involved, holding meetings, and creating materials/prizes for the kids. I started planning my event about 1 month in advance. I created bookmarks for the students (laminated them as well), brochures to send home to the parents, flyers for my table, and recipe cards for teachers and support staff. I also made posters highlighting the different fruits and vegetables with fun facts and nutrition information. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I just hung posters at the elementary school. Tuesday and Thursday I was at the school running different contests (guess the bean content of the jar and trivia questions) and giving out stickers/bookmarks for students who had a fruit or a vegetable on their tray.
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| One of the posters I created for the lunchroom. One student told me that I should be an artist :) |
My first day, Tuesday, of my event went so well! It was a bit crazy because the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade lunches overlapped. I felt like I was running around crazy (in a pea pod costume) trying to get student guesses for my bean costume. I also ran a lucky tray, in which 1-2 students from each lunch had a sticker on the bottom of their trays indicating they won a prize. Even with all of the craziness, the event went better than I could have hoped. The kids got so involved! One of my favorite parts was reading what the kids wrote on their guessing slips for the bean jar. One first grader wrote for a guess, "200, or 198." Other students wrote the #1 followed by as many zeros as would fill the line. (Total bean count for the jar was 16,438).
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| Day 1 Table Set-Up |
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| Pea Pod Costume! |
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| Day 2 Table Set-Up |
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| Picture Time! |
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| Banana Costume! |
After all my hard work, the story was put into 2 different newspapers! It was really exciting to have such good publicity for not only the school district, but also my internship program!
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Food Service Management Rotation: Tips and Information
This Monday, I will be heading into week 8 of my Food Service Management rotation of my Dietetic internship. It seems as though the time is flying by! I can't believe I am halfway through my longest rotation of my internship. Things have gotten a little more stressful; however, I found that being able to manage my time efficiently has worked to my benefit.
Throughout the past few weeks, I really had to step up, in terms of leadership and initiative. My old preceptor (an RD) had left to join the Navy. My new preceptor was the General Manager, who had a ton of things to do already. My new preceptor would run errands around the schools in the morning and attend various meetings. This left me alone in the office for the majority of the time. I found myself becoming the RD for the school district. All of the carb counting and menu nutrition questions came to me. I also sat at the RD desk and answered various parent and employee phone calls. Some of the calls were pretty basic (how do I load money on my child's account) while others required a lot more thought and time (child allergies and special diets).
The school district I am working with uses a program called PrimeroEdge, which is similar to NutriKids, just way more in depth and complicated. This program was where you inputted ingredients, recipes, and cycle menus for the district. It was my duty to create the menus in the system, and assign them to the schools in the district so they could complete their production records. The program is a very useful tool; however, the first few weeks were very difficult, as I was teaching myself how to use it. Once I mastered certain aspects of the program, things ran a lot smoother. One thing I had to consider was the slowness of the program. It is internet-based, so it gets very overloaded at certain times of the day (mid morning and late afternoon). Just adding in 1 ingredient to 1 day often took 5 minutes because of the webpage loading time. I had to plan when I would input and assign menus, so that I would not be using the program at its slow times.
The past few weeks were very stressful; however, the experiences I had strengthened my leadership and conflict negotiation skills. I also got much better at handling employee issues and multi-department management. I had to make a lot of decisions, so it was important to trust my knowledge and use good judgement. Management was very impressed with my work ethic and ability to handle what was thrown at me. I just did what I needed to do because at some times, no one else had the training I had to do it (answering carb or specific nutrient questions). It felt really good when upper management talked about me so highly to other administrative employees. I wasn't just an intern working there anymore. I had gained a lot more respect than that. When the new RD came in, I found myself training her. It was a very weird feeling for me, the intern, to be training someone in a higher up position, none-the-less, an RD. Much of what I trained her on was office procedures, PrimeroEdge (she had been using NutriKids), kitchen location, etc.
During her first week, the new RD had brought in a lot of materials for me to look through; including her RD test review binder, teaching resources, and a ServSafe training manual. The ServSafe book was a better resource for me than my college food service textbook. It laid out everything in a short and simple format. I would definitely suggest adding this to your resource library. She also brought in a book called "Strengths based Leadership." I haven't gotten a chance to read the whole book yet; however, after glancing through a few chapters, it is well worth the read.
Another major portion of my time over the past few weeks was spent on various lesson plans, presentations, and building promotional materials. My next blog will be on the lessons I taught and tips for teaching various age groups.
Tips for FSM Rotation
1. Whether you are in a distance or on-site program, it is really important to plan out your assignments at the beginning of your rotation. Try to knock out the easier assignments/tasks in the beginning. Since I needed my preceptor's help with scheduling things for other assignments, I tried to do what I could on my own.
2. Give your preceptor an updated assignment list after you have gone through a few weeks. My preceptor needed to be reminded of my assignments on a daily/weekly basis. He was very busy with other duties of his own, so this was pretty typical. It helped to scale down my assignment sheet to things that just dealt with him. It made it easier to work through assignments and get things planned ahead of time.
3. Be flexible! As much as planning is helpful, always be prepared to change up what you are doing. An employee might call about an issue that needs to be handled ASAP; you might have to switch up dates for meetings or presentations. Expect change to happen and roll with it. It will just make everything run a lot smoother.
4. Be able to multi-task. A lot of times I would be working on something (making a poster, writing a lesson) and I would get phone calls, or questions handed to me. Being able to handle multiple tasks, without stressing out, will really help your rotation run smoothly.
5. Work on negotiation and conflict resolution skills. If you haven't had much training or read a lot on these 2 topics, do so. I found myself researching them a lot as I moved through the leadership portion of my rotation.
Lastly, if you are still working at a job during your internship, kudos to you! If you are thinking about whether or not you should keep your job, know that it is manageable with the internship. I still maintain my position at a YMCA teaching nutrition. I have 7 different classes during the week that I teach. I am lucky, in that I was able to schedule the classes at a certain time that worked best for me. My earliest class starts at 4:45pm. This gives me enough time to get from my internship to the teaching site. While my weeks are very busy, it is manageable with proper scheduling and time management!
Throughout the past few weeks, I really had to step up, in terms of leadership and initiative. My old preceptor (an RD) had left to join the Navy. My new preceptor was the General Manager, who had a ton of things to do already. My new preceptor would run errands around the schools in the morning and attend various meetings. This left me alone in the office for the majority of the time. I found myself becoming the RD for the school district. All of the carb counting and menu nutrition questions came to me. I also sat at the RD desk and answered various parent and employee phone calls. Some of the calls were pretty basic (how do I load money on my child's account) while others required a lot more thought and time (child allergies and special diets).
The school district I am working with uses a program called PrimeroEdge, which is similar to NutriKids, just way more in depth and complicated. This program was where you inputted ingredients, recipes, and cycle menus for the district. It was my duty to create the menus in the system, and assign them to the schools in the district so they could complete their production records. The program is a very useful tool; however, the first few weeks were very difficult, as I was teaching myself how to use it. Once I mastered certain aspects of the program, things ran a lot smoother. One thing I had to consider was the slowness of the program. It is internet-based, so it gets very overloaded at certain times of the day (mid morning and late afternoon). Just adding in 1 ingredient to 1 day often took 5 minutes because of the webpage loading time. I had to plan when I would input and assign menus, so that I would not be using the program at its slow times.
The past few weeks were very stressful; however, the experiences I had strengthened my leadership and conflict negotiation skills. I also got much better at handling employee issues and multi-department management. I had to make a lot of decisions, so it was important to trust my knowledge and use good judgement. Management was very impressed with my work ethic and ability to handle what was thrown at me. I just did what I needed to do because at some times, no one else had the training I had to do it (answering carb or specific nutrient questions). It felt really good when upper management talked about me so highly to other administrative employees. I wasn't just an intern working there anymore. I had gained a lot more respect than that. When the new RD came in, I found myself training her. It was a very weird feeling for me, the intern, to be training someone in a higher up position, none-the-less, an RD. Much of what I trained her on was office procedures, PrimeroEdge (she had been using NutriKids), kitchen location, etc.
During her first week, the new RD had brought in a lot of materials for me to look through; including her RD test review binder, teaching resources, and a ServSafe training manual. The ServSafe book was a better resource for me than my college food service textbook. It laid out everything in a short and simple format. I would definitely suggest adding this to your resource library. She also brought in a book called "Strengths based Leadership." I haven't gotten a chance to read the whole book yet; however, after glancing through a few chapters, it is well worth the read.
Another major portion of my time over the past few weeks was spent on various lesson plans, presentations, and building promotional materials. My next blog will be on the lessons I taught and tips for teaching various age groups.
Tips for FSM Rotation
1. Whether you are in a distance or on-site program, it is really important to plan out your assignments at the beginning of your rotation. Try to knock out the easier assignments/tasks in the beginning. Since I needed my preceptor's help with scheduling things for other assignments, I tried to do what I could on my own.
2. Give your preceptor an updated assignment list after you have gone through a few weeks. My preceptor needed to be reminded of my assignments on a daily/weekly basis. He was very busy with other duties of his own, so this was pretty typical. It helped to scale down my assignment sheet to things that just dealt with him. It made it easier to work through assignments and get things planned ahead of time.
3. Be flexible! As much as planning is helpful, always be prepared to change up what you are doing. An employee might call about an issue that needs to be handled ASAP; you might have to switch up dates for meetings or presentations. Expect change to happen and roll with it. It will just make everything run a lot smoother.
4. Be able to multi-task. A lot of times I would be working on something (making a poster, writing a lesson) and I would get phone calls, or questions handed to me. Being able to handle multiple tasks, without stressing out, will really help your rotation run smoothly.
5. Work on negotiation and conflict resolution skills. If you haven't had much training or read a lot on these 2 topics, do so. I found myself researching them a lot as I moved through the leadership portion of my rotation.
Lastly, if you are still working at a job during your internship, kudos to you! If you are thinking about whether or not you should keep your job, know that it is manageable with the internship. I still maintain my position at a YMCA teaching nutrition. I have 7 different classes during the week that I teach. I am lucky, in that I was able to schedule the classes at a certain time that worked best for me. My earliest class starts at 4:45pm. This gives me enough time to get from my internship to the teaching site. While my weeks are very busy, it is manageable with proper scheduling and time management!
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