First Week...

So my first week at Santa Rosa Memorial has consisted mostly of shadowing all of the RDs, seeing all sorts of different patients and charting. Like many of you, I am also quite surprised by how much prep and paperwork time goes into each patient. We spend a lot of time going over both the paper and electronic medical record (they haven't been integrated as of yet), followed by usually just a few minutes of actual patient interaction, and then charting again and entering charges.

Aside from all the administrative duties, I've seen a couple of cool cases. The one that stands out the most was a one year old baby--who actually spent her first birthday in the hospital :( . She was in for bacterial meningitis, but also had a whole host of problems including:

-Tetrology of Fallot (congenital heart defect)
-esotropia (cross-eyed)
-fontanelle bulging
-failure to thrive
-seizures

I'm sure that several of these conditions were somehow interrelated, but the really interesting part is that she has been on a ketogenic diet for her seizures since December and has been seizure free since. She's on the formula Ketocal and has worked with an RD from Stanford to find the right ratio, and receives it mostly through a PEG but she also does take some orally. She'll stay in the hospital for a course of antibiotics for the meningitis and then be on her merry way for a make-up birthday party.

Next week I start my official rotations, but this week was a good overview of diseases I'll come back to later.

Have a great weekend!!

Alison