Source: https://www.nemours.org/about/mediaroom/resources.html Hi fellow and future interns! My name is Shannan and I am completing the pediatric concentration at Nemours/AI DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. During my time here, I’ve had the opportunity to rotate in and out of many different services including GI/liver transplant, oncology, endocrine, rehab, and many others all while learning from Registered Dietitians who are very knowledgeable in their specialties. I entered into this internship with a few special interests, but the exposure in variety of settings has sparked even more interests for me which has been very exciting and eye-opening!
I have had many great experiences here at AI duPont, but one that was very memorable to me was during the week I spent working with other members of the interdisciplinary team. During this week, I was able to shadow a wound care nurse and a speech therapist. Much goes into the medical care of a child, so it is important to understand the value of other disciplines and be able to work together as a team. While with our wound care nurse, I was able to watch ostomy changes and surgical site dressing changes, along with other wounds. Also during this week, I did many nutrition assessments on children post-surgery. We all understand how nutrition is essential for wound healing, so it was very rewarding to be a part of this. I spent a good portion of this week following a speech therapist and observing how she goes about assessing patients and determining who is safe to feed by mouth or not. As future dietitians, we must understand speech therapy recommendations in order to provide proper nutrition recommendations, so this was a very valuable learning experience for me that I have taken on through my rotations.
Currently, I am in my advanced clinical rotations and spending time in the PICU, NICU, and CICU providing nutrition support and preparing for staff relief which will start in a few weeks. It’s a great feeling to be able to put everything I’ve learned throughout my intermediate clinical into practice in the ICU setting!
I have had many great experiences here at AI duPont, but one that was very memorable to me was during the week I spent working with other members of the interdisciplinary team. During this week, I was able to shadow a wound care nurse and a speech therapist. Much goes into the medical care of a child, so it is important to understand the value of other disciplines and be able to work together as a team. While with our wound care nurse, I was able to watch ostomy changes and surgical site dressing changes, along with other wounds. Also during this week, I did many nutrition assessments on children post-surgery. We all understand how nutrition is essential for wound healing, so it was very rewarding to be a part of this. I spent a good portion of this week following a speech therapist and observing how she goes about assessing patients and determining who is safe to feed by mouth or not. As future dietitians, we must understand speech therapy recommendations in order to provide proper nutrition recommendations, so this was a very valuable learning experience for me that I have taken on through my rotations.
Currently, I am in my advanced clinical rotations and spending time in the PICU, NICU, and CICU providing nutrition support and preparing for staff relief which will start in a few weeks. It’s a great feeling to be able to put everything I’ve learned throughout my intermediate clinical into practice in the ICU setting!
