Outpatient

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I had my internship today, but I went to an outpatient clinic that is part of CMC rather than the main hospital. It was a nice change of pace, and I really liked seeing the outpatient world! The population that goes to that clinic is mostly Medicare/Medicaid, and the dietitian sees the patients from the internal medicine clinic there. Mostly they are obese and have conditions such as diabetes, HTN, and dyslipidemia.

The dietitian was great, and she had a creative strategy that I wanted to share. She said that most of the patients were not able to grasp carb counting or even really detailed portion size, so she simplifies it for them. She makes a bunch of paper plates with a line down the middle and a line separating one of the halves, and on the big segment she writes "Vegetables" and then has a list of nonstarchy vegetables that she tapes on there. Then, in one of the smaller segments she writes "Proteins" and then has a list of healthy protein choices. In the last smaller segment, she writes "Starches" and has a list of carbs and starchy vegetables that she tapes on there. She keeps a stack of these plates and hands them out to every patient that she sees. Its something easy that they can visualize, and it doesnt require measuring or understanding portions. Its also a really inexpensive take-home for the patients.

Back to the inpatient world tomorrow!
Elizabeth