Andrea Walter - Region 1

Hi, everyone! My name is Andrea Walter. I am a region 1 intern with Sodexo and am a part of the GP program through URI. I currently live in York, ME and have been traveling to Massachusetts to complete my clinical rotation, which started this past September. I have completed patient services, basic clinical, and intermediate clinical. I was very nervous to start my clinical rotation as I had never worked in a hospital setting before. On my first day, the CNM came to greet me and introduced me to the nutrition staff as well as those who worked in the kitchen. Personally, I think it helped to be introduced to everyone right away so that I would be more apt for ask for help whenever I would need it. I remember at orientation one of our advisors stressed the importance of getting to know those working in the kitchen, I have been making a very strong effort to say hi each day, and to address them by name. They greet me every morning with a smile, it is comforting to know that they are welcoming of new people into their space!
 
The hospital I am currently placed at has a lower census than most, but this has given me time to really focus on the patients I have assigned each day and analyze how we can use MNT to help them through their conditions. Lately, I have been working on a lot of tube feeding and TPN orders. This has been super helpful to get hands on practice with real patients as opposed to case study patients. One difficulty we have been facing is that there is/was a TPN feed shortage due to the storms that happened in North Carolina a few months ago, which affected a major production plant. My day at the hospital typically starts around 9 AM, where I begin charting on patients due for the day until rounds at 10:30. Rounds can last anywhere from 30-60 minutes but are a great time to learn more about the patients’ day to day medical updates from the care team (MD’s, RNs, PT/OT). I typically return to the diet office to finish any charting before I go see my patients. Our conversations vary depending on if it is an initial assessment, follow up, trigger, or consult.  I always go to my patients’ rooms prepared with questions written out that I need to ask to fully assess their nutrition status. I found that writing my questions beforehand helps to ensure that I won’t get overwhelmed or sidetracked with different topics, as some patients can be very chatty. After this, I typically have lunch and then finish charting my patients and then going over my work with my preceptor, where they can critique and offer suggestions on the plan of care. This usually brings me to the end of the day, about 4PM. I am currently in the process of planning for a specialty rotation as I have about 6 weeks left at my clinical site. I am excited to be able to pick something I am interested in to further my education in that topic and decide if I would like to pursue a career in it. 

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