Clinical Experience
Loyola University Health System (Loyola) is a nationally recognized leader in providing health care and in conducting groundbreaking research to treat heart disease, cancer, organ transplantation and neurological disorders. Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC) is the core of Loyola and one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers.
Loyola is an 801-licensed-bed institution that includes the Loyola University Medical Center campus (and its Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola, Burn/Trauma Center, and Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine) and the 36-acre Gottlieb Hospital campus in Melrose Park (including the Gottlieb Health & Fitness Center and the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Care Center). Loyola also includes Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and the Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.
As an dietetic intern at Loyola University Medical Center, I spent four months rotating through specialized units, working with over 15 Registered Dietitians, and gaining the skills to provide optimal Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNS) to patients.
During my clinical rotations, I …
During my clinical rotations, I …
- Practiced the Nutrition Care Process and Medical Nutrition Therapy in 11 different clinical units, including: Kidney Transplant, Heart Transplant, CCU, General Med/Surg, Lung Transplant, CV/thoracic ICU, CF, Outpatient Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Outpatient Bariatric and Metabolic Weight Loss, Outpatient Dialysis, Pediatric ICU, Neonatal ICU and General Outpatient.
- Attended and participated in multidisciplinary team meetings, including transplant boards, oncology boards, ICU rounds, discharge rounds, CF board meetings, and dialysis lab reviews.
- Calculated enteral and parenteral nutrition support recommendations throughout the rotation.
- Researched and developed patient-focused nutrition education handouts, including: warfarin and Vitamin K, Pancreatic enzymes, Diet and gastric cancer, and High protein/ low phosphorous foods for dialysis patients.
- Conducted a case study, where I followed the patient's care from admission to discharge
- Completed training in EPIC medical record system.
Staff Relief
Staff relief is two weeks at the end of the clinical rotations where the dietetic intern chooses which unit she was most interested in and takes over as the "RD". I chose to work in the 2ICU, which was the CV/Thoracic ICU, as well as the lung transplant and cystic fibrosis teams. Out of all the rotations, I developed a passion for the relationship between pulmonary disease and nutrition, specifically in regards to Cystic Fibrosis. During my two weeks, I rounded daily with the 2ICU team, which allowed for increased communication regarding my recommendations with the residents. I also saw at least 10 patients per day for nutritional assessments and follow-ups, attended transplant board meetings, and calculated tube feeding nutrition needs and pancreatic enzyme dosing based on weight and degree of malabsorption. Finally, I provided an in-service on signs of malnutrition in the ICU and the variety of nutritional supplements and tube feeding formulas available to the 2ICU multidisciplinary team. Staff relief was the greatest learning experience I had as a future RD.
Case Study
Lung Tx with CF Case Study | |
File Size: | 319 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Nutrition Education Handouts
|
|
|
Preceptor Evaluations
|
|