Dietetic Internship: Week 9

hope everyone has had a great week so far — can you believe we are over halfway through september?? it seriously feels like it was just august yesterday! i have successfully made it through my fourth week of clinical rotations, aka I am officially 10% done with my internship rotations…say what?? time flies when you’re having fun. this week was a pretty big week; not only did i find out that more than 2 people actually read my blog, i also got to teach my first week of cardiac rehab class! we also had our first monthly didactic class on friday, where we had a metabolic support specialist talk to us, but i’ll get to that soon! 

monday, september 14, 2015: my preceptor and i showed up this morning to the news that the state surveyors were visiting the hospital today and tomorrow — cue the terror music! no, i’m totally kidding. they come by annually to run audits and reviews on charting, procedures, policies and other regulations to ensure the hospital is running under proper conduct. other than that, we operated as per usual, seeing both acute-care, rehab, and outpatient patients.

tuesday, september 15, 2015: the state surveyors were still at the hospital today, but everything went smoothly once again! we didn’t have too many patients to follow up with today, but i did get the chance to take 3 of my own patients

wednesday, september 16, 2015: wednesday’s are the day that cardiac rehab education class meets, and this week i got the teach the class! the topics are predetermined with the program, and this week the topic focused on portion sizes, thankfully something that i felt pretty comfortable talking about for 30 minutes. there are 2 meeting times, so i got to give my spill two times, both times to a group of roughly 7-8 patients registered in the 12 week cardiac rehab program. they were all very receptive and welcoming to my teaching, and reassured me i didn’t do too bad 😉 i really enjoy teaching and education settings like this because it gives me a chance to interact with patients and clients in a more relaxed situation. it’s great to see so many patients actively making healthy changes to their diet and lifestyle to prevent further cardiac events and exacerbations. 

i’ve been trying to get out to a local park a couple times per week for a little evening walk, and it hasn’t disappointed. if you know me, you know i love a good sunset, and these little 30 minute evening walks at sunset are the perfect ending to my days.

thursday, september 17, 2015: today went really well! I had the opportunity to discuss some guidelines and recommendations for adopting a heart healthy diet to a patient recovering from bypass surgery. I’ve had encounters like this a few times already, but this patient was different. His receptiveness and gratefulness towards the information I presented to him and the time I took to review it made me feel truly valued and appreciated. Throughout my visit with him, he continued to not only thank me, but also raved about the exceptional, individualized, and personable care that he had received during his stay. I practically skipped out of his room and down the hallway back to the office with a huge smile on my face. Talk about the perfect way to end the week at the hospital! 

friday, september 18, 2015: we had our monthly didactic class meeting today, and had an RD come in to talk more about EN (enteral nutrition, aka tube feeding) and TPN (total parenteral nutrition, aka IV nutrition), and how the clinicians and RDs he works with distinguish, determine and delegate needs. It was really interesting and insightful for me. Being placed at a smaller scale hospital, I haven’t been able to see either EN  or TPN initiation yet, so I was trying to soak in all the information like a sponge! The speaker was captivating and easy to listen to. He was a WIC Nutritionist in his past, too! A couple of us went for a round of beers after class to ring in the weekend. After heading home, I decided to call it a quiet night and made dinner before popping in a movie. 

Saturday, September 19, 2015: So, I’ve definitely fallen into a Saturday schedule, and I don’t mind it one bit. Wake up without an alarm (today it was around 8:30…), make breakfast and tidy up my small box of apartment space, go for a long run at a local park, visit the farmer’s market for some produce, followed by doing whatever else I can fill my Saturday afternoon with. This Saturday, it included watching UGA crush USC — sweet, sweet redemption from last year’s game… 

I also think I made a friend at the park! He is roughly around the age of 65, if I had to guess. Running the length of the park makes a figure 8 loop, and last week I passed him 2 or 3 times as we both completed the 6 miles. We were both there at the same time again this week, and every time we passed each other he cheerfully rooted me on, apparently ecstatic to see me completing the entirety of the loop. Fingers crossed we’re both there again next weekend! I named him Roger. 

Sunday, September 20, 2015: I’ve been attending Biltmore Baptist over the last couple months and have enjoyed the messages and sermons a good bit. It turns out that my preceptor also attends, and we had gotten to talking about it at work one day. She encouraged me to look into one of the connect groups tht meet on Sunday mornings, and was kind enough to meet up with me this morning to walk me in and introduce me to some of the people in the group. The lesson focused on waiting on God’s timing in all things, especially those that are troubling us or causing uncertainty or anxiety. The leader played a great song by Lauren Daigle called Trust in You, and I have actually been listening to it on repeat every chance I get (oops, typing this up a couple days after Sunday…). 

Afterwards, I met up with two interns for lunch, a hike through some local trails, and apple picking! It was the perfect fall afternoon. Anyone have any good apple recipes??

Hope everyone else had a great week!