Day in the life of Interns at Prisma Health
Plus, a surprise at the end ;)
**Note: turn on captions to read quiet parts
Q: What inspired you to do this internship?
Ava: I wanted to get some experience in clinical nutrition, as I have not yet had the opportunity to see what it is like to work as a dietitian in a hospital. As I get closer to applying to graduate school and the dietetic internship, I want to take every opportunity I get to learn more about the field of dietetics and be able to interact with practicing dietitians who can pass along their knowledge and experiences. There are not many opportunities to gain clinical experince before applying to the official dietetic internship, so I knew I wanted to apply for this experience. I also kind of had an identity crisis last semester and wanted to change my major (I wish I could say this was the first time) and really wanted to get a hands on experince in nutrition to see if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life (spoiler alert: I am SUPER passionate about nutrition and can't imagine myself doing anything else after this experience).
Haley: Ever since I came back from Oaxaca, I've been looking for opportunities to immerse myself in Spanish. I was even thinking about studying abroad again but decided against it with the timeline of the medical school application. This internship really stood out to me as a best of both worlds scenario- I can continue to practice my Spanish and in the context of the career I want to pursue!
Q: Has anything shocked you so far?
Ava: I know that nutrition is so important (I mean it is kinda my life) but what specifically in the clinical setting I have been able to see how proper nutrition can really aid in the healing process. It is most significant in pediatrics where children can go from having malnutrition to growing rapidly. I have heard such mixed things about clinical dietetics and I honestly did not know what to expect. I did not realize you can specilize in certain conditions while working in the hospital and there is flexibility to work on different units to gain experience in different areas if that is something a dietitian would want to do. Also, did you know a newborn baby's stomach is the size of a marble and even smaller if they are premature?! That's why they need to be fed every 3 hours!
Haley: A couple of things, for sure! Have you ever heard of Flanax? I've never heard of it, not even in Oaxaca, but it's a common home remedy used by many Hispanic families. If you're in healthcare, be on the lookout for it when taking medical history!
Q: How do you plan to apply your internship experience to future endeavors?
Ava: I will definitely use what I have learned in this experience in my time as a dietetic intern in specifically my clinical rotation but also when working with patients in other settings! The best way to learn how to treat patients and learn nutrition support for certain disease states is to see the impact on the patients who have the most acute cases. I have been able to learn more about the treatment of eating disorders from some highly intelligent people and I will be taking that knowledge with me when I (hopefully) work with patients with eating disorders one day!
Haley: Conversational Spanish is one thing. Medical Spanish is another. I'm learning a lot of new vocabulary, and old vocabulary that I've once forgotten is resurfacing. I'm hoping that I can apply these to my own practice one day.
Q: Would you recommend this internship to someone else?
Ava: I definitely would recommend this internship to anyone who is on the path to become a dietitian! I have learned so much and gained experineces I never would have if I did not decide to do this internship. Everything is super organized and the dietitians I have worked with have been so amazing at teaching me all of the conditions and medical jargon that I haven't learned in school yet.
Haley: Absolutely! No one I know has ever done this internship before, so it was kind of a shot in the dark for me, but the language services department has such wonderful people that there was nothing for me to worry about.
Q: When you're not interning, what would we find you doing?
Ava: I am really in my self care era so you can find me doing yoga on the beach, taking nature walks, reading books and journaling when I am not trying to work on my grad school/internship applications. If anyone is looking for a book rec, I am reading Untamed by Glennon Doyle for the third time (it is my all time favorite book!). Being out of classes means I also have more time to listen to music and podcasts:)
Haley: My dog, Ginger, is still living with me, so you'll probably find me with her or pre-writing my secondary essays. I also heard hot girls read the ACOTAR series so I'm currently on book 4 and still going strong.
A SURPRISE!
As we wrap up the month of June and start new chapters in July, we are so excited to announce our future plans for the blog. Paige will be completing a Clemson study abroad program in.....drum roll please....
HUNGARY!!!! Here, she will be conducting bone research. Everyone say oooooh. Though we will miss her dearly here in South Carolina, we are excited to see what content she has in store for us. Stay tuned for her departure....which is next week. GET HYPE!!
Until Then.
👍👍❤️