Happy First day of SUMMER!!! I am currently on a bus to NYC where I'm meeting up with Steph to go to Solstice Yoga in Times Square. I wanted to share with you something I've been reading on my trip up here: "Getting Matched"
I am working with Jenny Westerkamp, the founder of All Access Internships as a social media intern this summer. She just released a new e-book "Getting Matched: a Guide for Dietetics Students" and asked me to review it. Well I loved it-and highly recommend it to any nutrition students in the process of looking at/applying for dietetic internships, the final step pre-RD. Nutrition students everywhere are in a tough spot: in April 2010 match, 4,169 students applied for DI positions and only 2,076 students received a match in the first round. Since the internships (much like Rotations in Med School) are required before sitting for the RD exam, this can be a very stressful process. This summer I am really focusing on researching DI sites, and doing a lot of self-reflection on what I want out of an internship, and where I think my career path is headed.
All-Access Internships is a GREAT resource for any nutrition students-it has links to get more experience, testimonials for past interns, and many articles about the nutrition profession and internships sites. Westerkamp also offers individual and group coaching as well as a monthly newsletter, a list serv community, a blog by dietetics students, intern testimonials, videocasts, tips, and discussions on Facebook and Twitter.
I jumped at the chance to read and review "Getting Matched: a Guide for Dietetics Students" and it was WELL worth the read! Well-written, thorough, and fun to read, there were so many tips to take away from it! Here are a few of the highlights:
- I really enjoyed reading success stories from students and interns across the country; what they did differently to be admitted and how I could make my application stand out. There were also interviews with DI directors, and what they look for in applicants.
- I loved that instead of bland generic advice, such as 'get good grades and have a lot of experience' there were specific action steps listed throughout the book. A lot of these steps went straight on my To-Do list
- Great tips for creating a stellar resume-what i need to do right now!
- How to Rock an Interview-pointers, and tips/tricks
- A list of the many possible jobs for RDs was very uplifting and inspiring! RDs definitely aren't just in hospital kitchens people! One of my favorite things about meeting RDs is the myriad of different jobs they hold, from chef, to PR consultants. Networking and talking to current RDs is one of my favorite things about this career path-there are so many amazing, fascinating (mostly women) with excellent careers out there. So inspiring!
With a positive, upbeat attitude Westerkamp provides a great how-to for us nutrition students. If you are planning on applying to a dietetic internship I highly recommend you get Getting Matched. It's not expensive and an indispensable resource!
Jenny included this quote in the book, and I couldn't agree more:
“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turnout.”John Wooden
What have you been reading lately? If you are a nutrition student or RD I'd love to hear any tips or thoughts on the application process!
2 comments:
Sounds like a great book to read. I new book that we are currently reading is the Yoda Diet book. So far we are enjoying it :)
“Unnecessary risks are being taken by patients seeking the liberation treatment.” says Dr. Avneesh Gupte of the CCSVI Clinic. “It has been our contention since we started doing minimally invasive venous angioplasties nearly 6 years ago that discharging patients who have had neck vein surgery on an outpatient basis is contra-indicated. We have been keeping patients hospitalized for a week to 10 days as a matter of safety and monitoring them for symptoms. Nobody who has the liberation therapy gets discharged earlier than that. During that time we do daily Doppler Ultrasounds, blood work and blood pressure monitoring among other testing. This has been the safe practice standard that we have adopted and this post-procedure monitoring over 10 days is the subject of our recent study as it relates to CCSVI for MS patients.”
Although the venous angioplasty therapy on neck veins has been done for MS patients at CCSVI Clinic only for the last 18 months it has been performed on narrow or occluded neck veins for other reasons for many years. “Where we encounter blocked neck veins resulting in a reflux of blood to the brain, we treat it as a disease,” says Gupte. “It’s not normal pathology and we have seen improved health outcomes for patients where we have relieved the condition with minimal occurrences of re-stenosis long-term. We believe that our record of safety and success is due to our post-procedure protocol because we have had to take patients back to the OR to re-treat them in that 10-day period. Otherwise some people could have run into trouble, no question.”
Calgary MS patient Maralyn Clarke died recently after being treated for CCSVI at Synergy Health Concepts of Newport Beach, California on an outpatient basis. Synergy Health Concepts discharges patients as a rule without in-clinic provisions for follow up and aftercare. Post-procedure, Mrs. Clarke was discharged, checked into a hotel, and suffered a massive bleed in the brain only hours after the procedure. Dr. Joseph Hewett of Synergy Health recently made a cross-Canada tour promoting his clinic for safe, effective treatment of CCSVI for MS patients at public forums in major Canadian cities including Calgary.
“That just couldn’t happen here, but the sooner we develop written standards and best practices for the liberation procedure and observe them in practice, the safer the MS community will be”, says Dr. Gupte. “The way it is now is just madness. Everyone seems to be taking shortcuts. We know that it is expensive to keep patients in a clinical setting over a single night much less 10 days, but it’s quite absurd to release them the same day they have the procedure. We have always believed it to be unsafe and now it has proven to be unsafe. The thing is, are Synergy Health Concepts and other clinics doing the Liberation Treatment going to be changing their aftercare methods even though they know it is unsafe to release a patient on the same day? The answer is no, even after Mrs. Clarke’s unfortunate and unnecessary death. Therefore, they are not focused on patient safety…it’s become about money only and lives are being put at risk as a result.”
Joanne Warkentin of Morden Manitoba, an MS patient who recently had both the liberation therapy and stem cell therapy at CCSVI Clinic agrees with Dr. Gupte. “Discharging patients on the same day as the procedure is ridiculous. I was in the hospital being monitored for 12 days before we flew back. People looking for a place to have the therapy must do their homework to find better options. We found CCSVI Clinic and there’s no place on earth that’s better to go for Liberation Therapy at the moment. I have given my complete medical file from CCSVI Clinic over to my Canadian physician for review.” For more information Log on to http://ccsviclinic.ca/?p=866 OR Call on Toll Free: 888-419-6855.
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