UCDMC Dietetic Internship: Internship Week 1-3

Welcome to our Blog. We are the University of California Davis Medical Center Dietetic Interns. There are 6 dietetic interns chosen each year. This year's internship started on August 31, 2009 and we will graduate from the program on August 13, 2010.

The interns this year are:

Erin Lennon of Cal Poly, SLO
Lynea Albers of Sac State
Alex Nella of U.C. Davis
Rachel Maghen of U.C. Berkeley
Darlene Frausto of Sac State
LeAnn Miller of Sac State

August 31-September, 2009:
Week one started off pretty easy. We met in the parking office and purchased parking passes for the next tow months. Yes, we have to pay for parking! We were given a short walking tour of the campus and tour of the new kitchen area in which we had to wear hard hats. We had lots of orientation meetings and a fabulous welcome lunch. We got to go to the bookstore and purchase 2 lab coats each (purchased by the intership!) We also received our badges with a lunch card which allows us $6.00 each day to use in the cafeteria! Free food!! All week long the number one thing on each of interns' mind was "What will be the first rotation?" On Friday, at the end of the day, that question was answered. Our second week will be spent together in the diet office rotation. By week three, we will be split into pairs for most of the year. That is one of the great thing about the UCDMC dietetic internship! Here's how it will go:
Erin and Lynea start the adult clinical rotation which will last through the week of December 14.
Darlene and Rachel will do rotations for one week each in Research, Outpatient, Wellness, and Community. That will take them through the week of October 5. Then they will start in adult clinical through the week of January 18.
Alex and LeAnn start in the Food Service Management Rotation which lasts through October 30. This rotation will be followed by one week each at Wellness, Research, and Long Term Care. After LTC comes the first part of the adult clinical rotation which will last through the week of December 14.

All of the interns received keys to the dietitian's offices, a flash drive, and a lanyard to hang everything on! What a great and exciting first week!

September 8-11, 2009: Week two was spent in the Diet Office Rotation. All six interns took turns learning the jobs of the Diet Assistant, Diet Office, Diet Kitchen, Host, and Runner. Some days we arrived at 6:00AM and other days we didn't have to be there until as late as 7:30. By 11:00 each day we were given our "trays" to taste. Basically we ordered the same food trays as patients eat. We rated these trays based on presentation, temperature, and taste. Most of the food (surprisingly) was pretty good. After our taste tested, we talked about the position we had just followed and came up with a problem associated with that job position. We then had to come up with a solution to the problem. It was a great exercise for us. By 1:00 each day we went to more taste testing in the diet kitchen. These were done because the chefs are trying to bring new healthier items to the cafeteria. We tasted the food and rated it based on taste, appearance, sodium, fat, and calories.
Since Monday was a holiday, the week went by pretty quickly. .

September 14-18, 2009: Each week, on Monday, we are required to have didactic classes. This week started off with a morning class on Clinical Standards and Policies. We then welcomed the interns from Sac State who joined us for a class on Adult Nutrition Assessment. After our class, we (Sac State and UCDMC interns) went bowling together at Land Park Lanes.

On Tuesday we all began our new rotations.

Alex and LeAnn went to Food Service Management which started off with meetings for most of the morning. They received their binders and talked about the expectations for this rotation. They came up with a theme menu which will be implemented on October 14, 2009.