two down, ONE to go!

We were on campus again today, which marks the start of our FINAL rotations before we’re finished. T minus 38 days until graduation…it’s getting real, folks. Seriously.

I am, however, seriously dreading my 5:30 a.m. wake-up for the next 4.5 weeks to be at Buffalo General Hispital at 7, but at least it will be the warmest and brightest (well, if spring will ever arrive) of my rotations.

I spent the last 5 weeks learning the ropes at a long-term care facility (a.k.a. nursing home), and doing what felt like never-ending projects. I researched freelance writing opportunities, wrote blog posts, got involved in the Western NY Dietetics Association, wrote a script for a couple food-related segments for the campus television station (we film next week), made a plan to revamp the blog (more on that later), and wrote a 23-page business plan. And I’m sure I’m forgetting some others. I also had a job at the campus health center and provided nutritional counseling to students on Wednesday afternoons; now that I’ll be at the hospital all day, another student is taking over. We got paid as ‘student assistants,’ but this could lead to an actual part-part time counseling position this fall when we’re actually RD’s. We’ll see.

I think my favorite project this past rotation was my business plan, despite it also having been the most work. I designed a business in which I provide nutritional counseling at a local wellness center and can accept insurance reimbursement. It’s something I could definitely see myself doing. Again, we’ll see.

Hittin’ the hay early tonight, 5:30 comes early…especially when you stayed up the night before watching the season finale of The Walking Dead!

meet the press

So, this happened:

I was recently featured in the Buffalo News! Being a ‘reporter’ myself, it’s so fun to be on the other side of the interview every once in awhile. I approached the BN Refresh (their Saturday Health and Wellness insert) editor, Scott Scanlon, awhile ago about contributing some guest blogs, and he offered to feature me in his ‘What Are You Eating?’ section. So far, I’ve contributed the National Nutrition Month blog and an ‘intro’ post on myself, which went live on the BN site yesterday. I’ve also written a post on our recent Paleo experience, which I’ll send to Scott soon. I’ll probably contribute a blog about once a month.

While I’m not getting paid for these pieces, I see this as a way to ‘break into’ the health/wellness/fitness/nutrition field. Writing for the Advertiser is great, but I need to start preparing for what I want to do long-term: freelance writing about food and nutrition. I’ve started researching writers’ guidelines for various publications and it’s overwhelming to say the least. My dear friend, Emily (who I’m visiting this weekend), advised me to slow down and try to actually enjoy the process of ‘building my business’ (whatever that may be), instead of focusing on where I want to be and the fastest way to get there. She’s a wise woman, that one. It’s such a relief to know it’s OK to take it one day at a time, one pitch letter at a time, one article at a time.

For now, I’m still just plugging along at the projects I have to do this rotation–most of which ACTUALLY pertain to my future as a writer/nutrition counselor–and counting the days until graduation…55.

ECMC

Welp, my first rotation has come and gone, and I’m just now getting to blog about it. Can we say BUSY much?!

Between ‘working’ at one of our local hospitals and keeping my gym schedule, I was doing 12-hour days all week. So this is what a real job is like…

As a re-cap, I’m in my LAST semester of my LAST year, (PTL) which is broken into three month-long rotations. My first rotation was my ‘senior practicum,’ in which I shadowed a Registered Dietitian. Many of my fellow students chose specific areas of practice, such as pediatrics, long-term care or Bariatric Surgery. I chose to work with one of our existing preceptors at Erie County Medical Center in a more general hospital setting. Because I’m not planning to work full-time in acute care, I wanted to make sure I got some clinical experience before graduation. I worked with Jennifer Oswald, RD, on her medical and surgical floors, as well as some ICU work with another RD.

A typical day started with Jennifer giving me 4-5 patients who needed new assessments or follow-up assessments. Because there aren’t extra computers in the nutrition office, I usually wandered up to one of the floors and grabbed a computer at the nurses’ station, where I looked up each patient in the Electronic Medical Record and began charting.

After beginning their assessments, which included information such as their diagnosis, past medical history, lab values, medications and current diet order, I would track each patient down in their rooms and ask them a few questions. Most of the time, I discussed their allergies, GI function, last bowel movement, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and intake prior to admission.After I saw each patient, I’d go back to a computer and finish writing up the assessment and provide a recommendation, such as:

“Recommend Heart-Healthy diet with Ensure supplement 2 x day. Monitor: PO (by mouth) intake, weight, labs/lytes, skin, BM, hydration.”

On one of my last days, I did a test tray from the kitchen. ECMC is beginning to implement an ‘on-call’ system for the kitchen, which is like having a short-order cook instead of set meals that go up on trays at specific times. I ordered an egg salad sandwich with chips and fruit. I checked the temperature of the hot and cold items, and filled out a questionnaire about taste, texture, appearance, etc…While at ECMC, I accompanied Jennifer to her outpatient counseling sessions on Wednesdays. I really like outpatient counseling, which allows you to go much more in-depth with each person and individualize the session to their needs. I also made a ‘craft’ to display nutrition labels for teaching:Overall, I was very pleased with my rotation. I was able to get a lot of clinical experience with both general medical and surgical patients, as well as those in the ICU and on tube feeds. Additionally, I was able to get some outpatient counseling experience. I absolutely HATED getting up and out in time to drive into Buffalo in the mornings (in the worst weather EVER), which just solidified the fact that I do not want a full-time, in-Buffalo, hospital job. It’s just not for me. I hated being away from the house ALL day long. I did, however, surprise myself with how much I liked the clinical atmosphere and the ICU. I could see myself working 1-2 days a week in a clinical setting to keep my skills sharp, but not full time.