Dietetic Internship Projects
Throughout the internship, I have had the privilege of working on various projects and events both in the hospital as well as in the community. Feel free to click on any of the buttons to open up flyers, projects, and papers that I've worked on.
Major Capstone Project: Hoo's Cooking at UVA?
One of the requirements for the internship is the completion of a Major Capstone Project. For my project, I worked with the dietitian in Student Health on the U.Va campus to develop and host a cooking class for college students at the university to promote healthy dietary habits. Research has shown that cooking skills among this population are declining, which has been associated with the rise in obesity and nutrition-related diseases. This year we hosted a "pilot" cooking class to gauge student interest in a future series of cooking skills-based classes. I conducted all of the research, planning, marketing, implementation, and review of the project. |
Theme Meal: Bites from the Bayou
Each intern creates a themed meal to host in the hospital cafeteria during the Non-Patient Services rotation. My theme was a New Orleans-inspired meal to bring some Cajun treats to Virginia in the spring. The menu included Blackened Tilapia Tacos with a variety of toppings, cajun coleslaw, red beans and rice, and bread pudding with vanilla sauce. We were responsible for developing the menu, working with the purchasing manager to procure the ingredients, pricing the meal, marketing the event, and finally conducting a financial analysis to determine a break-even point and developing a profit and loss statement. |
Battle of the Border: Patient Test Tray
During the Patient Services Rotation, we and another intern each developed a themed meal for patients and hosted a Test Tray Analysis. Dietitians and managers were invited to sample the trays, which were also evaluated for proper tray line and re-therm temperatures. The holiday I was given was "Memorial Day", and the other intern was given "Cinco de Mayo." We came up with the idea of creating a "Battle of the Border" as the theme for our test tray event.
We were responsible for planning the menu, working with the purchasing manager to procure the food, cooking the food the day of the event, setting it up on the trayline and serving it onto the patient trays, advertising for the event, and decorating the space.
During the Patient Services Rotation, we and another intern each developed a themed meal for patients and hosted a Test Tray Analysis. Dietitians and managers were invited to sample the trays, which were also evaluated for proper tray line and re-therm temperatures. The holiday I was given was "Memorial Day", and the other intern was given "Cinco de Mayo." We came up with the idea of creating a "Battle of the Border" as the theme for our test tray event.
We were responsible for planning the menu, working with the purchasing manager to procure the food, cooking the food the day of the event, setting it up on the trayline and serving it onto the patient trays, advertising for the event, and decorating the space.
Energy Drinks Handout
Another intern and I collaborated on a project to make a handout and a presentation board on energy drink usage in children, at the request of another dietitian in the area. We conducted research and developed these materials to be used in future events. National Nutrition Month -- The Power of Whole Grains
For National Nutrition Month, the interns were split into groups and each assigned a focused week to create a poster and handout for. Our theme was "Whole Grains", and we decided on a recipe to provide samples of, created a poster to present in the hallway, and created a handout to pass out to interested people. |
Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Class Day Presentation
Each intern must give a class day lecture on a topic of their choice, and I chose the topic of hunger and environmental nutrition. This is an area that I am very passionate about, and enjoyed researching. I gave an overview of the problem of food insecurity in America, the causes behind this, the food policies that impact this issue, many programs that tackle the hunger problem, and how to apply it to the dietetic practice. Research on Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis
During my Nutrition Support Surgery specialization week, I had the opportunity to research a somewhat rare disease state and the nutritional implications. We had a patient with toxic epidermal necrolysis, and I chose to do further research on this area and wrote up a mini-literature review and summary of the data available on this condition. |