Long Term Care

I am doing my Long term care rotation at the same location I did institutional food service at the Long Island State Veteran's Home. I actually really enjoy this rotation and have learned more than any other rotations. I have only been there for 4 days and I am already writing assessments/notes on my own. It also helps that all the dietitians there are VERY helpful and nice. I love working with them... which i believe is important when i find a job. Long term care is nice because you can get to know the residents and follow their prognosis as opposed to a hospital where the turnover rate is much faster. Although clinical has not been my top choice (besides outpatient) I am enjoying long term care. Perhaps because I am actually applying what i have learned in the past few years to my work.

Institutional Food Service

Institutional Food Service is food service at a hospital or nursing home. I already did School food service but they are pretty different. At institutional, all the residents are served 3 times a day. In order to make 1000 meals a day, there are many staffs and tray line. During my rotation, I watched some of the staffs/cooks prepare meals, watched tray line, participated in tray line, and supervised tray line. I watched them make pureed foods and had to taste them as well. I did CQI(continuous quality improvemtn) of tray accuracy and presentation. Personally I dont like food service and i did not particularly enjoy this rotation either. However, I am now during long term care clinical at the same location so it is nice to have the background of the kitchen so I understand how the food is prepared and handled for the residents.
For the module I had to plan a 1 week cycle menu for breakfast/lunch/dinner, make a standardized recipe, create a production sheet (for a meal), and make an order sheet for one meal, and choose a kitchen equipment to purchase. Although I did not enjoy this rotation, i think the experience will help me somewhat for the RD exam.

elective: Eating Disorder

I did my elective back home in san diego. i got to be at an eating disorder clinic called mandometer. this was very interesting since i had never seen eating disorder patients before. I didnt really get to sit in on nutrition counseling because of condientiality issues. but i was able to observe the patients, who are at the clinic all day every day. I attended "lectures" where the rd or md talked about nutrition, eating disorders, etc. i was able to hear first hand what these patients experience. Although this is not exactly my area of interest, i got a lot out of it. This is a lot of psychology, so i think it is beneficial as an rd to understand what these patients go through. I didnt really get to sit in on nutrition counseling because of condientiality issues. but i was able to observe the patients, who are at the clinic all day every day. I attended "lectures" where the rd or md talked about nutrition, eating disorders, etc. i was able to hear first hand what these patients experience. Although this is not exactly my area of interest, i got a lot out of it. This is a lot of psychology, so i think it is beneficial as an rd to understand what these patients go through.

WIC

WIC is WOMEN, INFANTS, and CHILDREN. It's where low income mothers can get food vouchers, nutrition information, etc for themselves, and children.
I was here for 2 weeks. I sat in on "certs" meaning the rd spoke with the mothers and assessed their nutrition status and giving out checks. So i didnt actually get to DO anything. The rotation is nice to see for maybe 2 days max. 8 days is ridiculously long. It helps if you know spanish too.