NHRMC Week 1

So, since I'm still not allowed on the floors yet, it's been a slow week. Tuesday I took a (rather pricey) drug test and went to the hospital vendor fair, where I got some free cookies and pens. I also entered some raffles to win gift certificates and other prizes. I have yet to hear anything, but I feel very hopeful. That day, the dietitians also took turns explaining to me a little about how things work here-- how they do charting, how they do assessment sessions, and how they do calculations for feedings. They do their charting electronically (and are currently switching over to NCP), but print out copies of their notes to stick in the patients' charts. This is because the docs have a different electronic charting system than everyone else here, so there is still a paper file for all of the patients with both hand-written and electronic chart print-outs. It's kind of bizarre. Oh, and they adjust for body weight if a person is at 125% of IBW. And for TPN, lipids are calculated as having 10 kcal/g. In case anyone was curious.
Today we went out to lunch to celebrate my preceptor's birthday and to say goodbye to the other intern, who leaves tomorrow. We also got to ride a trolley to the Scottish Rite Temple to see a motivational speaker, a nurse who gives talks to health care workers. He was pretty inspirational, actually.
Those are pretty much the highlights of the week. Other than that, I've been hanging out in the diet office, reading articles and textbooks, and working on a presentation that I'm going to give in a couple of weeks to stroke patients on heart-healthy eating. I've also been eavesdropping a bit, hearing about some of the cases that the dietitians are working on and other hospital goings-on. There was some minor drama in the diet office yesterday when one staff member got fed up and walked off the job for an hour or two. But I saw her this morning and she seemed quite chipper when she greeted me, so I guess things are fine. And this morning there was a Code Blue on a cafeteria worker who we think had an MI or some other heart problem. We haven't heard an update, though (HIPAA and all, you know...) but we are all praying and hoping for the best.