Monday, March 10th was internship selection day here in Canada. This is the day that all internship applicants both look forward to and dread at the same time, as this is the day that decides whether you get to be a dietitian or not. A program that you applied to and interviewed at has decided that they want you in their program, or the programs have decided to pick your classmates instead.
You check your email at 9am on the dot and see an email from DC. Take a deep breath. Click it. And find out your fate.
This is probably the most stressful time of the entire internship application process (not to say that the rest of it was any easier :/). This is the moment where you find out how you will spend your next year, whether you will need to go through the whole process all over again next year (if you even want to go through it all again), and whether you'll be able to be an RD by next year. Then you get to go to school with your fellow applicants later that day, because school doesn't actually end till April, and see the awkwardness. No one says a word. No one dares look at anyone else, because you'll be able to tell the instant you catch their gaze whether they got the "successful applicants" email or not. Or, you show up to class and only half of you are actually there. You can bet dollars to donuts that the people in class are the ones who got in. The ones who aren't there may be too devastated or embarrassed to deal with everyone else's excited and teary face.
In other words, it's a really, really crappy time. Even for the successful applicants, it still sucks. You want to be able to share your news. You want to be happy for your friends who got in. You want to be excited because you got in!!!. And yet, you don't say a word. You try hard to stifle your excitement and go about your business as though nothing happened, because you don't want to be the jerk who gets excited and jumps up and down with your friend, who you worked on your application with and who was your rock throughout the whole journey, only to find out that their dream was crushed by an unfair selection system.
Some people continued to get news throughout the week. If an applicant was accepted to more than one program or got a grad school as well, they need to turn at least one of those programs down to select the one they'll take, meaning that their spot opens up for the next person on the list. Now that a week has passed, most of these people have received their email, but there are still 60-70% of applicants who didn't get anything at all.
So now what?
I'll post up some blogs later about the next steps, no matter what your result was. For now though, whether you were a successful applicant or not, you should be very, very proud of yourself. Those who didn't get a spot - you went through one of the toughest application processes out there. Yes, it sucks that you won't be spending your next year in internship, but here's the thing: you now get an extra year to gain more experience, build an even more stellar application package, be extra prepared for interviews because you've already done it once, and work to build up enough savings to actually make it through a whole year of unpaid internship next time. You'll be able to get the inside scoop on internship programs from your friends who did get in, helping you to decide if that's really the right place for you to apply to. You might actually end up in a better position than the people who got in their first time around!
Those who did get a spot, you should be proud of yourselves too! Of course you're feeling excited, you told all your non-dietetic friends and family - but have you said anything to your classmates and colleagues yet? Hmm. Didn't think so. Even though you're excited and proud, there's still a sense of shame that goes along with getting into internship because you don't want to hurt your friends' feelings. I get it. I was that person too. In those first few weeks, I was DYING TO TELL PEOPLE, but only told the friends who didn't apply that year, and maybe one or two of my absolute closest friends who did apply. But even when I told them my news, it was very quietly and almost shameful to say that I was in, because I knew that there were so many deserving people who didn't. The reality is that you are among about 30% of applicants who managed to get a spot, and you should be incredibly proud of yourself for that accomplishment!
No matter what your news was, BE PROUD OF EACH OTHER. Support each other. This is the time when, regardless of your news, you need a hug really, really badly. Be there for your classmates/fellow applicants and don't be ashamed to share your news!
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Internship recap: Week 18-21
We're HALFWAY DONE THE INTERNSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The last three weeks I've been at a rehabilitation hospital working in the musculoskeletal rehab unit. This is a completely different world than the acute care setting I was working in with my last rotation - in rehab, patients are medically stable. No one is ill, no one is on IV fluids/medications, and the patients are fully conscious, participatory in their care, and very mobile. Most of the patients in the musculoskeletal rehab unit are there for rehab for hip fractures, hip replacements, and knee replacements, though we also have about 8 beds available for oncology patients needing rehab after cancer treatment (usually because they lost way too much weight and need to rebuild muscle mass). I also spent 2 days a week at a different site of this hospital in spinal cord injury rehabilitation, where most patients are paraplegic or quadriplegic. Most of these patients have spinal cord injuries from motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries, "stupid" injuries (like trying to jump off your roof for some reason), or have a condition that affects neuromuscular function such as multiple sclerosis.
The first week here was like orientation all over again. Though this hospital is part of the network that I'm interning with, it's the most recent acquisition and hasn't quite made a full transition yet to the practices and technologies available at the other sites. So, it took me the whole first week to figure out where to find things, how patient caseloads are managed, how chart notes are organized and written, and who to ask/where to find information. I had a lot of bad days. Days where I felt like I'd completely lost all the independence and competence that I thought I had from the last rotation, and felt super dumb because I didn't know how to do most things. My preceptor challenged me a lot - which is a good thing really, but I often felt dumb for not knowing the answer to questions that seemed like they should have been obvious. But I was determined to manage this rotation, and spent most of my "free time" in that first week doing readings and practicing doing assessments and chart notes to get more familiar with the process at this hospital compared to the last rotation.
By the second week, things were much smoother. I think my preceptor and I kind of figured each other out a bit more and learned how we worked best together, how I learn best and how she could help me get the most out of the rotation. By mid-week I had my own caseload and was visiting patients independently to complete assessments and do follow up work. My preceptor and I caught up once or twice a day so I could review what I'd done and make sure that my care plans were appropriate for the patient, and get her to order new diet orders or supplements I recommended (because as an intern, I can't sign for my own orders yet). I even attended a family meeting by myself with other team members to coordinate a patient's discharge planning. I gave the family information and offered education to help them achieve his nutritional goals (gaining/maintaining weight) while managing his other symptoms and comorbidities (low appetite, managing diabetes). By the end of the rotation, I felt much, much more competent and independent, felt comfortable to manage my caseload and develop a care plan/follow up with patients solo, and felt that my preceptor trusted my judgement and rationale for the care plan I had chosen.
This rotation also gave me my first case study! In this internship, we have two case studies to complete during the clinical portion of the program: one in the first half, one more complicated case in the second half. To qualify as a patient for these case studies, we need to have been the primary dietitian working with the patient, and have seen them from admission onward (to complete an assessment for the patient ourselves, rather than having them transferred from another dietitian's care plan). This patient was admitted early in my second week for rehabilitation following cancer treatment, where he'd unfortunately had a rough experience with severe mouth sores, nausea and vomiting, GI issues, and very large weight loss. I followed him pretty well completely independently from his admission through to discharge, created a care plan, followed up with him regularly, collaborated with other team members to get the "bigger picture" of his care, created a discharge plan for him, and provided diet education specific to his particular needs (of which he had many because of the cancer itself, side effects of the treatment, and other medical issues he had prior to hospitalization). I'll be delivering my case study presentation sometime later this month!
Next week I'm moving into yet another research week (read : a week to catch up on all the housework and errands I haven't had time to do in the last several months, catch up on reading for my next rotation, and - yeah, do research :/) I'm super excited for the rotation that follows the week after though: DIABETES!!! I'll be working in a diabetes education centre within a family health team, which is the kind of environment that I kind of see myself working in when I'm ready to work!
Updates to come :)!
The last three weeks I've been at a rehabilitation hospital working in the musculoskeletal rehab unit. This is a completely different world than the acute care setting I was working in with my last rotation - in rehab, patients are medically stable. No one is ill, no one is on IV fluids/medications, and the patients are fully conscious, participatory in their care, and very mobile. Most of the patients in the musculoskeletal rehab unit are there for rehab for hip fractures, hip replacements, and knee replacements, though we also have about 8 beds available for oncology patients needing rehab after cancer treatment (usually because they lost way too much weight and need to rebuild muscle mass). I also spent 2 days a week at a different site of this hospital in spinal cord injury rehabilitation, where most patients are paraplegic or quadriplegic. Most of these patients have spinal cord injuries from motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries, "stupid" injuries (like trying to jump off your roof for some reason), or have a condition that affects neuromuscular function such as multiple sclerosis.
The first week here was like orientation all over again. Though this hospital is part of the network that I'm interning with, it's the most recent acquisition and hasn't quite made a full transition yet to the practices and technologies available at the other sites. So, it took me the whole first week to figure out where to find things, how patient caseloads are managed, how chart notes are organized and written, and who to ask/where to find information. I had a lot of bad days. Days where I felt like I'd completely lost all the independence and competence that I thought I had from the last rotation, and felt super dumb because I didn't know how to do most things. My preceptor challenged me a lot - which is a good thing really, but I often felt dumb for not knowing the answer to questions that seemed like they should have been obvious. But I was determined to manage this rotation, and spent most of my "free time" in that first week doing readings and practicing doing assessments and chart notes to get more familiar with the process at this hospital compared to the last rotation.
By the second week, things were much smoother. I think my preceptor and I kind of figured each other out a bit more and learned how we worked best together, how I learn best and how she could help me get the most out of the rotation. By mid-week I had my own caseload and was visiting patients independently to complete assessments and do follow up work. My preceptor and I caught up once or twice a day so I could review what I'd done and make sure that my care plans were appropriate for the patient, and get her to order new diet orders or supplements I recommended (because as an intern, I can't sign for my own orders yet). I even attended a family meeting by myself with other team members to coordinate a patient's discharge planning. I gave the family information and offered education to help them achieve his nutritional goals (gaining/maintaining weight) while managing his other symptoms and comorbidities (low appetite, managing diabetes). By the end of the rotation, I felt much, much more competent and independent, felt comfortable to manage my caseload and develop a care plan/follow up with patients solo, and felt that my preceptor trusted my judgement and rationale for the care plan I had chosen.
This rotation also gave me my first case study! In this internship, we have two case studies to complete during the clinical portion of the program: one in the first half, one more complicated case in the second half. To qualify as a patient for these case studies, we need to have been the primary dietitian working with the patient, and have seen them from admission onward (to complete an assessment for the patient ourselves, rather than having them transferred from another dietitian's care plan). This patient was admitted early in my second week for rehabilitation following cancer treatment, where he'd unfortunately had a rough experience with severe mouth sores, nausea and vomiting, GI issues, and very large weight loss. I followed him pretty well completely independently from his admission through to discharge, created a care plan, followed up with him regularly, collaborated with other team members to get the "bigger picture" of his care, created a discharge plan for him, and provided diet education specific to his particular needs (of which he had many because of the cancer itself, side effects of the treatment, and other medical issues he had prior to hospitalization). I'll be delivering my case study presentation sometime later this month!
Next week I'm moving into yet another research week (read : a week to catch up on all the housework and errands I haven't had time to do in the last several months, catch up on reading for my next rotation, and - yeah, do research :/) I'm super excited for the rotation that follows the week after though: DIABETES!!! I'll be working in a diabetes education centre within a family health team, which is the kind of environment that I kind of see myself working in when I'm ready to work!
Updates to come :)!
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