Hello, my name is James Brockwell and I am currently finishing up my last week of staff relief at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda Maryland. Since I graduated with my degree in dietetics I’ve always envisioned myself working with individuals in the outpatient setting. I’ve never had an immense interest in working within the inpatient setting as a clinical dietitian. At least not until I started my advanced rotation in the ICU several weeks ago. I was assigned nearly a textbook’s worth of ASPEN articles to read over Christmas break before starting the rotation and there was something about the intricacies of critical care that enticed me. I became so immersed in all of the information, it seemed like the entire week was over in the blink of an eye. It didn’t matter though, I was ready to put my critical thinking skills to work and help the patients at Suburban Hospital’s level 2 trauma center. Between plugging in ventilator settings in the Penn State equation and adjusting feeding rates for Propofol, I’ve never felt so involved in a patient’s care. There are so many variables that must be considered when a patient is critically ill that there is never one “go to” solution. Every chart must be scrutinized from top to bottom to ensure nothing has been overlooked and that your recommendations are solid. When the patient is unable to feed themselves, the critical care dietitian becomes one of the most important players on the interdisciplinary team. I know that I still want to pursue a career as an outpatient Certified Diabetes Educator, but theses last several weeks are going to make me stay around in inpatient care for a bit longer than expected. Perhaps there might be a Certified Nutrition Support Clinician credential in my future as well.
