After more than 3 years on a surgical unit and almost 4 years working in the hospital, it’s time to spice up my professional career and try something new! Although I’ll still be a casual clinical dietitian in a hospital/for a health authority, my new full time role will be as an in-store dietitian with Loblaw! It’s an extremely different role compared to my previous experiences in the hospital but is a great transition for me to tie together my love for primary care, private practice and being a food nerd who could spend hourssss roaming around a grocery store!

(I took up the offer of a surgeon and FINALLY went to the operating room on my last day!)

The past week has been a STEEP learning curve where I feel like a student all over again. Lots of new terms to memorize, many new procedures to understand and a whole new routine to build. If you watched my day in the life of a surgical RD on Instagram (it’s also saved in my Highlights), what you got to see was my typical routine as a surgical RD. It involved pretty much the same thing each day but the variety came from the different types of patients I saw and the (many) projects I was involved with. This new role as an in-store dietitian involves building community partnerships, providing in-store education to customers through food demos and grocery tours and continuing my love for 1:1 nutrition counselling support. One thing I didn’t mention is how AMAZING the RD here in the West has been to support us newbie RD hires – I’m extremely grateful for her support and guidance!

(I’ll miss working with all this equipment and all the home tube fed patients I have worked with..)

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind since I was just offered the job less than a month ago, made the decision to leave my comfortable (and rewarding) permanent surgical position to take the leap and try something new. It has been overwhelming, scary, emotional but exciting period all at the same time. The hardest part was saying goodbye to my close colleagues on surgical, some of those RDs I built strong friendships with at work, the surgeons who I’ve spent the past few years building such positive relationships with and leaving a job that I loved. But us millennials need a change every now and then so a new opportunity in an area that I’m defs a noob at, leaving the comfort of my old job, and building new friendships and networks is also an exciting thing to look forward to!

So many memories and opportunities were seized here!

I’ll always be a surgical RD at heart and still welcome questions from all of you regarding my work as an acute care RD. Wish my luck in the new job!