First days at Georgetown

Hi Everyone,

My experience is going well so far. My first rotation is GenMed and Endo. Having GenMed first has been a bit challenging because it includes a little bit of everything, but I have yet to complete all of the modules. So, I feel like I'm all over the place. On the other hand, I know I have more specific modules coming up, so I'm thinking of this as a good introduction or overview.

My first day was orientation. Yesterday I started learning the system. I have been screening the patient lists and marking which people we need to see, then the dietitian and I cross reference our lists. I also learned how to use the database to gather pt labs. As the dietitian went through the patients notes binder, she explained what to look for. This whole process of assessing the patient took a lot longer than I thought. Some information is on the computer, some in the nurses binder, other in the progress notes of the pt binder! I miss UNC and computer charting! I'm impressed with the dietitians patience, on Tuesday it took us 2 hours to go through 1 patient. But, she assured me things would speed up and she wants me to use the first few days to ask a lot of questions.

I also listened in on the Food Allergy lecture as some of you mentioned.

Today, I wrote my first note! However, it wasn't an NCP note, it wasn't even a soap note. I used a form that someone made up a while ago, with check boxes and spaces to fill things in. It was actually quite helpful, and makes it more difficult to forget things. On the flip side, they are switching to NCP next week. There is confusion around how to document this way, and the dietitians don't seem to be excited about the change. Unfortunately, no one has used NCP much, so I guess we'll all be learning together. I also did a calorie count and we reviewed all of the diets today.

Tomorrow I'm attending "rounds," which is basically a meeting where all the disciplines come together and discuss all the patients in that unit. I'm looking forward to it!

Overall, the dietitians and even the clinical nutrition manager are very nice and welcoming. They're all young, fun ladies, so I think it's going to be a good experience! Oh and Amanda was right, they do always eat lunch together!

Sarah