Today I was able to experience my first look into outpatient clinical dietetics, and while it started out slow, I can see why people like this setting but I don't see myself liking it long-term. So far, I can't say that the outpatient setting is the type of environment where I see my self in the future, but i greatly respect the RDs that commit daily.
My experiences today where minimal. About 80% of the scheduled patients were no-shows and the ones who did come, barely showed interest in their education or spoke no English. I could also see myself getting tired of the uncertainties and the receptiveness of seeing the same disease over and over again. 100% of today's patients where being educated on weight loss, diabetes and hyperlipidemia, and while these disease are frightfully relevant, I would grow tired of the same education day in a day out.
I will be spending the rest of the week doing outpatient and I hope I see something that changes my mind about outpatient dietetics.
