There are 3 signs of dietetic internship burnout. Let’s talk about how you can tap into senior dietitians, build a support system outside of your preceptors and get you feeling better about becoming a dietitian.
Dealing with Dietetic Internship Burnout
Becoming a dietitian is insanely difficult. School is hard. And for a lot of us, the internship is harder. Dietetic internship burnout is real.
It’s a year of full time, unpaid work that can test your emotional and mental limits. And if you’re one of those who feel caught off guard by how hard your DI is. Then this can easily leads to you feeling burnt out and unappreciated before you even become an official RD.
It can be the stress of having to struggle financially. Having advisors that don’t check up on you. Or just feeling alone and exhausted all the time. And at it’s worse, you might spend a year just feeling stupid.
This is especially true if you’ve had a hard time finding clinical rotations or preceptors who will take you through your distance program.
If any of this sounds like you, you’re not alone. This is an unfortunate reality for a lot of interns. And for a lot of you, you’re not just dealing with one of these things, but all of them at the same time.
I know it can feel like you’re out here on your own, but there are resources, senior dietitians and programs that are here to help you get through the hardest parts of dietetic internship burnout.
Let’s talk about 3 signs of dietetic internship and how to deal with them.
The first sign of dietetic internship burnout
Losing interest in your rotations? Find a RD mentor or a nutrition tutor.
Yes, I know. You’re already in a whole entire dietetic internship. An internship that you paid for. With teachers and preceptors who are supposed to be mentoring and tutoring you.
Your internship is supposed to be helping you.
Maybe your internship advisors are kind of absent. They only reach out when you’re missing an assignment. Maybe you have preceptors who don’t always have time to work through answers to all your questions.
You could even have preceptors who think you should be starting your clinical rotations prepared to power through nutrition notes at the pace of a senior RD.
It is so easy to start feeling overwhelmed by all of this. Like you aren’t cut out for the RD life.
But here’s the truth of becoming a confident RD:
You need to feel prepared and confident, by any means necessary.
And one of the best and fastest ways to make that happen is by finding a senior dietitian who you can connect with. Someone who has time for you and who is doing the kind of work you want to get better at doing.
If you have a preceptor who plays that role for you, fantastic. That’s how it should be.
For everyone else, it’s time to find either a mentor or a tutor.
For a lot of us, dietetic internship burnout is paired with mental exhaustion. And during this incredibly long year, a lot of that comes from constantly feeling like you don’t know if you’re doing the right thing or even how to figure something out.
When you can get those exact questions answered, it frees up a lot of brain space and energy you need to get you through feelings of burnout.
Do you need an RD mentor or a nutrition tutor?
If you’re feeling like you have no idea what you want to do with your life after your internship. Or if you even have your RD and you’re constantly wondering if you made the wrong decision going into nutrition. Then you need a mentor.
A mentor is a more senior dietitian that you meet with regularly. Within a mentorship, there’s an emphasis on career guidance and networking. The relationship you develop with your mentor can be very personal or purely professional.
In both cases, mentorships tend to be free and can happen either through a matching program or as you network with RDs.
Ideally, you’re matched with someone who’s aligned with your personal long-term goals. They’ll work with you and provide highly individualized advice that’s designed to meet your career goals and find ways to get where you’re going faster.
Great places to find a dietitian mentor include:
If you’re feeling like you can’t keep up with some part of your internship. Then maybe you’re always feeling behind in your clinical rotations or you’re struggling through the case study assignments — you need a tutor.
A nutrition tutor is a dietitian who has a lot of experience in a specific area of nutrition. With a tutor, you’ll get precise short term education help you become very capable at doing that thing.
You can find a dietitian tutor to help you do almost anything you’re struggling with in nutrition. The best part of getting a tutor are the immediate answers you get to your specific questions.
A tutor will help you level up in a way your preceptor likely does not have time for.
They’re going to be that person who will drag you through all the material you’re struggling with and help you get straight through the thing that’s causing most of the burnout.
Great places to find a tutor include:
- All Access Dietetics (resources for the RD exam, nutrition specialties and getting into dietetic internship)
- Empowering Dietitians (Jess does dietitian supervision, a cross between a mentor and a tutor)
- Nutrition Cheat Sheets (me! I focus on getting your clinical questions answers. Start with Clinical Text Support for some 1:1 work or Clinical Bootcamp for a self-paced course covering everything you need to know about MN. Then
Where else can you find more senior dietitians to support you?
Online. Specifically Instagram. Especially if you’re not in a large urban area.
Start by searching hashtags. Take a look at who’s commented on posts that look really interesting to you. Start to follow the folks that are talking the kind of talk you like to hear.
And then — are you sitting down? — reach out to them and ask a question.
PRO TIP: If you reach out to RDs who have less than 10K followers, you’re more likely to get a faster response. The possibility they have less on their plate is just a bit higher pushing the odds for a genuine connection in your favor.
Do the same thing with Facebook.
Groups like The Unconventional RD and RD & RD2Be Community have thousands of members who are willing to jump in and answer any question you’ve got.
The downside to asking a question in a Facebook group is it can be overwhelming when you get hundreds of answers to your innocent.
Or you can get crickets.
It’s a bit hard to say how it’ll go down when you post. It’s also tough to say if you’re actually going to feel satisfied with the answers you get.
My recommendation: stick to the more personal outreach on Instagram, and find a mentor or tutor who can help you very effectively reach your goal.
You cannot put a price tag on those personal quick chats when they do happen.
Not only will you start building a network of RDs more experienced than you, but the confidence you’ll have by just asking and getting answers to questions important to you is priceless.
The second sign of dietetic internship burnout
Feeling alone, unsupported and overwhelmed? Speak up and ask for help.
Again, easier said than done. But this one is crucial. I’d say mandatory, even.
If you’re having a tough time in your DI and are dealing with dietetic internship burnout, you’re going to have to work on this. You’re going to have to speak up and let the world know when you have a question.
I know this is hard. Especially when you’re being told you need to complete 12 clinical assessments a day and you’re feeling like you can probably get through 4 when you’re on fire.
But here’s the thing: you’re not SUPPOSED to know everything as an intern. You shouldn’t be expected to move THAT fast when you’re first starting.
You’re also not plopped down in your dietetic internship rotations just to be an unpaid temporary staff dietitian for an understaffed facility.
You’re in your internship to learn to be a dietitian.
Your preceptor is there to support and teach you.
And if you don’t have a preceptor who’s available to answer your questions or you’re being expected to work beyond your capacity as an intern, then there’s a gap in this learning process.
It’s also an extremely common trigger for dietetic internship burnout. But you probably already know that.
What this means is you’re going to have to do one of two things to get what you need as a dietetic intern:
#1: Tell whoever you need to tell that you need some extra help.
There is NO shame in this. You’re learning and everyone learns at a different pace. Either your DI or your preceptor should step up with clinical resources to help you get through the internship without collapsing.
#2: Find a tutor or mentor.
Obviously this is not ideal. Clearly you should have gotten all the resources you need made available to you in the programs you’ve paid to be apart of.
But the reality is these programs don’t always fill the gaps you need to get through the internship and succeed as a dietitian without feeling completely fried at the end of it.
If you’re struggling financially in your DI knowing you need extra support that isn’t included in your program, I want you to reach out to a tutor or a mentorship program and ask.
DM a dietitian that you think can help.
State your case. Let them know your situation and see what kind of plan they can work out with you. You might be surprised how much sympathy and flexibility established dietitians will have for your situation.
Are you saying again I should find a mentor or tutor?
Yea, I am. That’s exactly what I’m saying.
Don’t underestimate the power of having someone in your corner. Someone who’s focused on exactly what you need for you to be able to show up at your best.
There are a lot of dietitians on social media (myself included) who are in the business of supporting other RDs. Whatever you need, you’ll likely be able to find an RD who’s providing it.
Start with free information. Watch every single free video different RDs have on Instagram. Listen to every single podcast they’ve put out. Read their entire blog and take notes.
This is a perfect place to start. It costs you nothing and you’ll probably learn a whole lot.
Then, when you find a few people that sound like they have the kind of information you need, reach out.
Even if you’re worried you can’t afford them or you’re intimidated by what they look like on social media. Do it. Send them a DM or an email and start a conversation about where you are and what you need.
There’s a big difference between the time and energy your assigned preceptor who’s at work has and an RD who has centered their career around being helpful to those who reach out.
There is so much help beyond your preceptor.
Your preceptor is probably expected to not only help you with your work but also plow through 18 assessments a day while understaffed and responsible for managing diet orders for the kitchen at the same time.
The dietitian you reach out to can talk to you on their own time, at your convenience and without the added pressure of being directly responsible for your productivity.
Because of this, I’m betting you’re going to be very surprised about the kind of time and attention you’ll get.
The catch? You’ve got to be the one who takes the first step.
You need to know what kind of help you need and speak up first in order to get that support.
The third sign of dietetic internship burnout
Burnt out from your dietetic internship? It does get better.
Yes it gets better. But it’s never going to be perfect, and that’s ok.
You’re entering a flawed profession that is full of extremely passionate nutrition professionals dedicated to health promotion and supporting those who need it most.
It’s a really good group of great people. Welcome!
Most of us have experienced dietetic internship burnout. And that’s not some kind of “if we did it, you should too” statement. It’s simply a reminder that you’re not alone. There’s a lot of understanding from those you reach out to for extra help.
And because of that, you’ll find a lot of RDs who are invested in seeing you become as successful as you want to be.
The energy you burn dealing with burnout and exhaustion can really limit the energy you have available to spend time imagining the kind of work you really want to do as a dietitian.
If you’re unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel, here are a few things to remember:
First: Nothing else you do will be like your dietetic internship.
The minute you have your RD credential, is when you’re finally in charge of making your own patient care decisions. Without anyone looking over your shoulder.
No one will be emailing you because you missed an assignment. No one will ask you to correct a PES statement they didn’t like.
This can be a blessing if you’re feeling confident in your ability to do the kind of nutrition work you’re looking to do.
On the other hand, I’ve seen it trigger a lot of panic and overwhelm for new RDs who don’t feel prepared to take on that kind of patient care responsibility.
Feeling like you’ll never be good enough at clinical nutrition or you’ll never pass the RD exam because you aren’t good at math, doesn’t go away just because you passed the exam.
I think you know what I’m about to say what this means…
Second: Build your confidence with as much outside support as you need.
If you’re not feeling confident about working as a credentialed RD, find that mentor or tutor. Just because you’re out of your internship doesn’t mean it’s too late to ask for help.
I’d actually argue this is a ideal time to get a tutor or a mentor.
Why? Because you can use what your tutor or mentor teaches you immediately.
Instead of taking what you learn from them and having to filter it through a preceptor, get a second (or third) opinion and then decipher which opinion you’ll follow, you can make all those judgment calls yourself.
As an RD, you decide what kind of care you provide your patient.
You also get to decide what kind of dietitian you want to be.
And when you have a great mentor or strong tutor in your corner, you’ll develop your own nutrition style and put yourself on a career path much faster.
And That’s It!
Those are your 3 signs of dietetic internship burnout — and what you can do about it right now.
No matter where you are in the internship to RD journey, you should never feel stupid or unsupported.
Having said that, I would bet good money that not a second of the real world will be like your internship.
But for those of you who want to feel inspired again about nutrition, supported by the dietitians around you and confident as an RD, you have options.
Consider working with a mentor to help you work on building a career you love or hiring a tutor to get you through the sticky bits that feel the hardest.
And if all else fails, I recommend weekly happy hours and a group chat with interns who can appreciate the struggle.
Want even more to help in clinical?
Check out The Nutrition Cheat Sheets Shop for all the nutrition education and clinical resources that will make your life easier.
