For one week we had the opportunity to work with a dietitian who consults with nursing homes. It was very different from our hospital rotation. (Sorry no fun pictures with this post)
We were there in small groups and each day we were at a different location. Our preceptor is the dietitan for 21 long term care facilities in the DFW area. (Wow) So she must be extremely organized to be sure to visit each one within the timespan set by state and federal regulations.
One thing that I found difficult was that the dietitians did not have an office. At each facility, they found a room or chair and table set up to work out. The office had to come with them.
Day 1: Our first Long Term Care facility in Fort Worth, pretty tame for the most part. We were reviewing some of the resident's charts and there was one resident who looked us up and down, wheeled over to one of the nurses at the nurses's station and began questioning her why we were there. The nurse explained that we were dietetic students and we were there to check on the residents eating and make sure they were getting enough. The resident then just sat there and stared at us with this glare. Yikes!
Day 2: We spent the afternoon at one of the facilities close to campus, it was the nicest of the three facilities, nothing too exciting occured during our time there
Day 3: Our last day with our Long Term Care preceptor was the craziest. At one point in the morning we were by the nurse's station looking up patient charts and all at the same time around the station we had a man talking like an auctioner and clapping, one woman randomly singing, and another woman howling. It was quite an adventure.
My group and I decided that when we're old and in a nursing home we're going to do some crazy stuff just to mess with students. Some ideas: rolling around naked in our wheelchairs, randomly singing kid songs (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star), and just staring at them with a blank face. Can't wait to see the reactions!
~Brittani
"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." ~ Psalms 37:4
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
Clinical Coming to an End
My time at the hospital is coming to an end and I'm sad, but also excited to start somewhere new. The dietitans at the hospital were awesome and I learned alot!
Before leaving I had the opportunity to watch a wound care treatment as part of one of my units and I was pretty excited about it. The patient had surgery in the chest area to remove a mass, and it left a hole that needed to heal. I was able to observe the wound nurse remove the current sponge placed inside with a fresh one. I thought it was cool to be able to see the wound, it was deep enough that you could see the tissue moving inside whenever the patient breathed in and out.
This past week, the hospital's marketing team decided to add some flair to the 6th floor...
When I came out of the stairwell and turned the corner, I had to jump back, these large pictures scared me and I was so used to seeing sky when turning the corner.
This last week at my hospital site, I am expected to be doing 75% of the work the dietitians normally complete in a day. So far I've been seeing roughly 50% of the patients assigned to the dietitian, so Tuesday during the unit was a little chaotic because it was a lot of patients and the majority of them were full assessments (versus follow ups-much simpler), and involved many medical conditions. But good practice for feeling like a real dietitian!!
We have recently met with our professor for next semester's rotations and have discussed where we want to be for our culminating hours. This is half of next semester that we choose where we want to be, whether it be a place we have already been but want to explore more, or a place that we haven't been to and would be interested in exploring. I'm torn, I really want to work with Renal (kidney) patients, but have found out that it's a requirement to have 2 years of clinical (hospital) experience to be considered. I would like to have more experience in the renal setting, but I know that if I worked at a hospital there's a better chance of that turning into a job when I've completed my internship. So I'm considering completing my hours at a hospital. And just to throw another kink in there, I would really be interested in going to a cancer center and working with individuals because we have not had that experience and I know it would be challenging. What to do?!?
Next up is Long Term Care, where I will be at a nursing home. Interested to see what all is involved there, I have been to nursing homes, but haven't researched too much as far as dietitian involvment with residents. I'll let you know how it goes.
~Brittani
"We count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perserverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." ~James 5:11
Before leaving I had the opportunity to watch a wound care treatment as part of one of my units and I was pretty excited about it. The patient had surgery in the chest area to remove a mass, and it left a hole that needed to heal. I was able to observe the wound nurse remove the current sponge placed inside with a fresh one. I thought it was cool to be able to see the wound, it was deep enough that you could see the tissue moving inside whenever the patient breathed in and out.
This past week, the hospital's marketing team decided to add some flair to the 6th floor...
 |
| Surprise! |
This last week at my hospital site, I am expected to be doing 75% of the work the dietitians normally complete in a day. So far I've been seeing roughly 50% of the patients assigned to the dietitian, so Tuesday during the unit was a little chaotic because it was a lot of patients and the majority of them were full assessments (versus follow ups-much simpler), and involved many medical conditions. But good practice for feeling like a real dietitian!!
We have recently met with our professor for next semester's rotations and have discussed where we want to be for our culminating hours. This is half of next semester that we choose where we want to be, whether it be a place we have already been but want to explore more, or a place that we haven't been to and would be interested in exploring. I'm torn, I really want to work with Renal (kidney) patients, but have found out that it's a requirement to have 2 years of clinical (hospital) experience to be considered. I would like to have more experience in the renal setting, but I know that if I worked at a hospital there's a better chance of that turning into a job when I've completed my internship. So I'm considering completing my hours at a hospital. And just to throw another kink in there, I would really be interested in going to a cancer center and working with individuals because we have not had that experience and I know it would be challenging. What to do?!?
 |
| Which way to go?! |
~Brittani
"We count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perserverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." ~James 5:11
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