The reason I love blogging is being able to provide insight on what my experiences are as a new RD, with the fascination followers received on my previous blog as a motivating facter. As a continuation and transition into this new writing venue, I’ll be answering questions followers have asked in a weekly addition of Q&A – weekly may be variable depending on if the questions keep flowing!

Here’s this week’s!

“I am thinking of going into UBC’s Dietetics program and your posts about your internship give me lots of insight- thank you! What are you interested in doing when you finish your program?”

I get this question a LOT, from either friends, family, followers, in interviews, or people I randomly meet (fun fact: I’m that person that loves talking to strangers on public transit – it’s actually how I met my partner 🙂 ) My answer: I don’t know!

Most new graduates of the Dietetics program go into clinical nutrition. That being said, not everyone does! I have a fellow colleague who is starting up her own private practice, know of some new grads who are doing a mix of clinical dietetics and private stuff on the side, some who work at nearby grocery stores to be the dietitian on site to answer customers questions/provide tours, or some who have sectored into the food service side as managers.

What am I doing? Dipping my feet into the clinical dietetics side of things. I landed a job that started the Tuesday after my internship ended (I got SUPER lucky) and am currently a clinical RD at a local, larger, more acute hospital.

Am I loving it? YES! Throughout my internship, I never thought I would be interested in clinical nutrition. I always saw myself doing something more privately, or working in Pediatrics, or cooking my way through into other areas of the working life. Right now, I’m loving clinical – I’m being challenged by my manager and fellow RDs to pursue more difficult experience and being so fully supported by the dietitians in the work environment to succeed in any area I’m interested in. I’m constantly learning so much about nutrition and it’s extremely exciting! I’m the type that thrives when I’m feeling nervous, challenged and in high stress environments, so I’m thoroughly enjoying my current job!

What are my next steps? I don’t know yet. I want to continue working my way through clinical, thinking about other areas I could be interested in, keep up my love for informal blog writing, and seize any opportunity that comes my way!

Awesome question!