Rex policies and politics

I didn't do as much dietetics the past few days, but I did get to observe a bedside swallowing evaluation, 2 pulmonary function tests, and three meetings about hospital policies (one RD meeting, where the focus was on pressure ulcers, a renal/pulmonary interdisciplinary meetings, and an interdisciplinary stroke meeting).

The swallowing eval was interesting just because the RD's the MD's order them all the time, and because my father is a speech therapist. I didn't get to observe aspiration like Kayla did, though...unfortunate for me, but good for the patient.

The pulmonary function tests were surprisingly interesting, and they really brought the definitions from the module to life. The respiratory therapist was a great educator. She made me realize that you really have to over-simply the anatomy/physiology when talking to patients, but you can still talk about why you're doing what you're doing. In fact, both patients I observed were really appreciative of the mini-lesson she gave and seemed more likely to follow her recommendations because they understood their importance.

The meetings made me realize that protocols are really important at hospitals, and that they're always changing. Basically, lots of people sit in a room and talk about the latest research and professional recommendations, cases at Rex, and what other hospitals are doing. Rex is always trying to be as good as - or better than - UNC and WakeMed, so policies at those hospitals were frequently referenced. It's definitely interesting to see people from so many different areas all working together.

I also spent a good chunk of today hunting down patients with diabetes to make sure they're getting their HS snacks and that the nurses are recording them. Only about 2/30 were recorded. I had an awkward moment when I walked into a hospice room (only I didn't know it was the hospice wing), and there were ~5 family members there who could care less about the snack at that point.

Another awkward moment this week: I went to interview a 92 year old man, and I walked into his room with a quick knock since the door and curtain were wide open. I realized 2 minutes into my questions that he was on the commode with his gown hitched up. Whoops.