Intro to Interns

On a daily basis, I feel like I have a fair handle on my job. Sure, there are some overwhelming moments and days, but I feel confident starting out my day. However, throw an intern into the mix and suddenly I’m feeling stressed. Not only am I responsible for my own work, I’m also now in charge of teaching and preparing another person to enter the workforce as a competent dietitian.

This wasn’t a volunteer role. It’s simply a part of my job description. We usually get one intern a year, although this past year, we had two. The bad news is that both of them experienced my own struggles as a preceptor. The good news is that I picked up a few things on the way.

Moving the Goalposts

One of our interns sat down with me at the beginning of our week together and we discussed what we were going to cover that week. She knew what I expected of her and that short talk set up the week really well. The other intern didn’t do this. She should have. I should have taken the time to cover this area, but as a professional adult, she should have taken charge of her own education and learning experiences. I take 50% of the blame in this situation but no more.

The problem with our second intern was that she didn’t live up to my expectations because I hadn’t told her what they were. She likely felt the same way about me. I had certain goals in mind, but she wasn’t able to achieve them. In the future, I will make it a point to have this discussion with every intern but, in this situation, we missed opportunities for growth and achievement.

Intern Responsibilities

The larger question that came up throughout precepting was how much do you push the interns? Once again, as adults, we expect them to take charge of their experiences. For example, if you offer the intern an opportunity to make tube feeding recommendations and she declines, do you force the issue knowing that it’s going to be a good experience? Or do you let her turn down valuable learning opportunities? To be fair, I didn’t force the issue, but maybe I should have.

Self-Defense

Whenever I feel like I haven't done a great job with my interns, I think about all the bad preceptors I or my coworkers have experienced. Preceptors that made you cry. Ones that criticized you so much that you were paralyzed, unable to complete even basic tasks. Even ones that were completely checked out and didn't provide any direction. I've never made an intern upset and I think they always felt comfortable talking to me so I can't be that bad, right?

If I'm being honest though. I'm not aiming for the lowest common denominator when it comes to precepting. I don't need to be the best but I do need to be good in this area. I'd like to be ranked "meets expectations" at the very least and I don't reach that goal at all times.

Finding the Balance

Our interns were friendly, but our relationship was not one of friends. Our interns were being taught, but we were not their teachers. Our interns were working

alongside us, but we were not coworkers. I struggle to maintain the balance. I also struggled with this when I was an intern so it’s good to know nothing’s changed! I imagine that knowing how to work with interns becomes easier with time and experience so I’m going to have to hope for a little grace by our interns during this period.

Any honest view of my work as a preceptor has to recognize that while I’m not worst, I’m certainly not the best either. We’ve already started discussing our next intern and I hope with each new experience, to gain the skills needed to be a good preceptor. Maybe one day I'll approach interns with the same confidence as my daily work.