hi guys, hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! mine was super relaxing — i finally got to stay in asheville for the weekend! i’ve loved traveling to see people and reunite with friends, but it felt so nice to slow down a bit and just hang around town with no plans. first, i’ll recap with how my third week of the internship went!
monday, september 7, 2015: since today was labor day, we had a vacation! i made a trip to hilton head island to spend the long weekend with 9 of my friends from college. we had a blast, to say the least. we checked out of our rental house this morning before grabbing some lunch at chic-fil-a and heading our separate ways đ i had such a wonderful time with everybody, that it was hard to turn onto 1-95 north while everyone else went south. i’ve loved getting to know so many great new people in an awesome new city, but it’s still tough seeing all of my friends together so far away. i tried not to dwell on it, so i blasted the new j biebs song, along with some dirty guvs and revivalists to make the trip back to my humble home. i spent the rest of the afternoon settling back in and preparing for the upcoming week of rotations at the hospital.
tuesday, september 8, 2015: i’m back at the hospital this week, and hopeful that i will remember everything from 2 weeks ago! i got to observe some more in-patient consults and screenings, as well as 2 outpatient appointments. i finally got my own medical record log-in, so now i’ll be able to take on my “own” patients and chart!
wednesday, september 9, 2015: wednesday’s are pretty busy. this morning i watched my preceptor give 2 cardiac rehab nutrition education classes on whole grains and fiber. next week, i’m the one that gets to present the class — i’m excited!! the classes range from roughly 5-10 people, and it’s pretty laid back, so i’m hoping it goes well. wednesday’s are also the day that the interdisciplinary team meets to discuss improvements in patients that are in in-patient rehab. i think i mentioned it before, but the group is composed of the RD, the head RN, OT, and PT. this wednesday was big because i got to see my own patient! well, 3 actually! i found it relatively easy to talk to patients; after all, that is what i did for 5 months with WIC. the hardest part is adjusting to the different charting method and being able to pull the most relevant and useful information from the labs, history, and patient interview.
thursday, september 10, 2015: i got to see more of my own patients today, so i’m slowly getting more comfortable with what i’m doing. i’m becoming more well-versed on all things congestive heart failure, altered mental status, GI upset, sepsis, UTI, respiratory failure and hip/knee surgeries, but i continue to learn something new every day….or every hour, really. protein, calorie and fluid needs for different cases and diagnoses were things i learned in undergrad, but not having put them to practice in a few years has made me a little rusty. not every illness requires the same amount of calories or protein for optimal recovery. some (like those suffering from acute or chronic pancreatitis) may benefit more from a low-fat diet, while others (like those suffering from seizures) may suffer. my clinical rotations have deeefinitely been a great review and source of practical application of the information i learned during undergrad.
friday, september 11, 2015: well, i hate to bore you, but today wasn’t much different from the last few days. i had one of my most meaningful patient encounters thus far this morning, talking to a patient in rehab about her feeding/eating troubles and concerns. lord knows i’m not trying to break hipaa so i’ll just leave it at that đ my preceptor got off early this afternoon to attend a weekend conference, so i got to leave at lunch time! i ended up working 9 hours tues-thurs, so i still managed to get all my hours in for the week, which was nice. i spent the afternoon reviewing some material at home before meeting 2 other interns for some beer and gourmet grilled cheese at a local brewery for a fun and relaxing friday night.
saturday, september 12, 2015: i love staying in town with no plans, because it means i get to do whatever i want. bonus points when the weather is actually perfect. i woke up around 9:30, made a bowl of oatmeal and cup of coffee before setting out for a long-ish mid-morning run at a local park. followed by a trip to the farmer’s market and grocery shopping, this is quickly becoming my favorite way to spend saturdays in town. i even splurged and bought myself a realllly bright new pair of running shoes, because the soles of my old shoes were shot. i made dinner and hung out at my apartment for the remainder of the night, which was just what i needed.
sunday, september 13, 2015: got in a little jog before church, then spent the better half of the afternoon outside because the weather was ACTUALLY unreal today. i did some work on the starbucks patio before taking a scenic drive along the blue ridge parkway. nothing like being a tourist in your own town, huh?? next time i’m totally packing up my belongings and doing my work on an overlook instead of the starbucks patio. sad to see such a relaxing weekend come to a close, i started getting everything prepped and ready for the week ahead. in terms of meal prep, i made a batch of hardboiled eggs, some red quinoa, roasted sweet potato bites, black beans, corn, and containers of carrots & snap peas with hummus for quick and easy meals and snacks throughout the week. i typically have a hardboiled egg for a mid-morning snack, and then my veggies and hummus as one of my afternoon snacks when i get off work around 4:30….or 5. I actually get lunch fo free at the hospital, so i’ve been taking full advantage of that, because the food is actually awesome!
so, that is week 3, all wrapped up in one big blog post. i hope i don’t bore you to death with these…but i guess if i do, you totally don’t have to read them. i think i have like 2 family members and 1 family friend that read them anyway đ hope y’all have a wonderful week!!
