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Well since January.. I have been busy learning and doing so many things! Its best to start where I left off with my MNT rotation at Aurora St. Luke's. I spent a total of 14 weeks in my MNT rotation, every 2 weeks I would rotate areas and dietitians to get a wide variety of MNT experience. I spent time in cardiovascular ICU, oncology, surgical, and outpatient. All of the rotations had a new aspect with a different learning milestone in my career. I by far enjoyed my oncology rotation the most, I can't quite put my thumb on it but for some reason I loved the patient population and working with them. One of my most difficult rotations was the cardiovascular ICU, these patients had either had open heart surgery, a heart transplant, or a ventricular assisted device placed and therefore were in very critical condition. This rotation became helpful for my staff experience that I completed in a general cardiac unit and orthopedics unit. I spent 2 weeks doing my staff experience, where I "pretended" to be a real dietitian! I found out that I learned a lot and now actually feel confident as a almost dietitian!

Following my time at St. Luke's I spent one day at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in the oncology unit (and I got a little extra tour of the PICU and NICU!). It was an amazing day to see and witness the care in a children's hospital. I saw amazing kids that are fighting cancer like champs and tiny tiny babies! I also had the opportunity to see the cardiac ICU where I saw a 2 year old with an open chest. She had recently had a heart surgery but due to the inflammation they could not close the chest right away. With her chest still open and covered with a "saran wrap" type material protecting it, I could actually see her heart beating!

I then spent a week in long term care learning about the documentation and nutrition care process used in LTC. It was a very interesting experience and I am not sure if it is a setting I would want to work in full time. I loved the older adults, most of them had funny jokes and were very friendly, but I am just not sure if it is right for me.

NOW onto the elective rotation which I have been counting down since I found out about it! HY-VEE!
I started at Hy-Vee in Madison on Monday working with the dietitian there and I LOVE it! The first day I spent time getting to know the store and the products and putting out dietitian's choice signs throughout the store. We also prepped food for Deana's (Hy-Vee RD) segment on NBC 15 that was taped on Tuesday. On Tuesday, we started out the day at NBC where I watched Deana record her 3 minute segment on spring greens. It was awesome to see behind the scenes of TV and hopefully I wake up early on Sunday (7:40 am) to watch it air! On Wednesday we spent all day at Sun Prairie High School health class answering questions about nutrition, it was fun but boy were we tired at the end of the day! I am looking forward to next week when I am going to do a food demo at the store, work in the garden, and prepare for the Gluten Free Gala on Saturday!

Other than becoming a dietitian life has been pretty busy, for one I moved a majority of my things to Madison where I am staying with my lucky boyfriend Eric and his brother while I am at Hy-Vee. (Trick is now I am never leaving ha-ha!)

This past weekend was my little sister's prom, it was soo much fun to watch her get all dressed up, such a lady!

I have also been job searching and interviewing hoping to find a position that fits me. It is tough work and very stressful, but I know it will all work out in the end.

Here is my inspirational quote for the month...

The longer you wait for something, the more you'll appreciate it when you get it.Cause anything worth having is defiantly worth waiting...

MNT | Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center | General Medical & CICU

After the quick holiday break from the internship, I FINALLY started clinical! My entire MNT rotation is 14 weeks long and is broken up into 2 week increments. My first 2 week rotation was in a general medical floor and cardiac ICU. The hospital I am doing my MNT rotations at is a huge cardiac hospital in Milwaukee, around 500 beds and over 100 ICU beds. The first day was pretty overwhelming, to say the least, but since then has gotten much better! 

The first dietitian I worked with on the general medical floor and CICU did a lot of tube feedings and wound care. After my two weeks with her I have done a lot of tube feedings and am starting to feel pretty comfortable with them. She also taught me a lot about wound care; focusing on increased calories, protein, vitamins and minerals. During this rotation I became more comfortable with EPIC medical record charting formats for the hospital and writing PES statements with an intervention, monitoring, and evaluation component. Being in a large hospital provides opportunities to see very different patients and conditions which has been very interesting! 

While the first two weeks in the clinical rotation were a struggle and each day is a challenge, I am slowly but surely getting the hang of things and retaining new information. The hardest part is wanting to look up every term I don't understand when I see it, but that would take all day, and there are tons of patients to see!

I have now moved on to my second preceptor into a new area which I will blog more about later but I have been working on talking and interviewing the patients on my own, which sounds a lot easier than it looks!

-Success doesn't happen overnight. Keep your eye on the prize and don't look back.-