Today I finished my first week at my long term care rotation! The best part is that this part of my clinical rotation is only 2 weeks, so I’m halfway done :)
I started out this week by wrapping things up from my food service management rotation. I spent 3 days working on a research paper and ended up spending an entire night in Starbucks. There may have been a pumpkin spiced latte and other desserts involved…
I also passed the comprehensive exam so I’m officially done with FSSM! Hallelujah.
I’m getting a unique experience for this clinical rotation because instead of interning at an assisted living facility, I’m working with a long-term acute care hospital. This is where people go when they still need to be hospitalized after an illness/injury but have been in the regular hospital too long.
I have found the LTAC hospital to be completely fascinating. Nutrition plays a very important role with these patients because most of them are admitted with some sort of wound and have increased protein needs. A lot of patients are also on enteral or parenteral nutrition support so I’m getting a lot of experience with that.
Even though I think this experience is fascinating, I don’t think the area is quite for me. I generally enjoy being in a hospital setting but LTAC deals with patients who are critically ill. My preceptor told me that their ‘recovery’ floor of patients who are on their way to being discharged is the equivalent of the ICU floor in a regular hospital. But I’m thankful for being exposed to this area of dietetics!
One hard thing about this rotation is that I’m away from K and our doggies :( I’m staying with my mom because this facility is out of town. I really miss the fam!
Tonight my mom made daiquiris out of peaches from the farmer’s market. Mmmmm
Have a great weekend