Medi-Clinic Day 2

Today was my second day in the Medi-Clinic. The dietician that I was supposed to shadow today was out sick so I shadowed Anna-Marie again. We began our day by doing a round through the hospital checking in on certain patients; we visited the pre-mature baby area, the ICU, and the pediatric unit. I saw some of the same patients that I saw yesterday. We then drove to one of the out-patient facilities and checked on some of the patients there (pretty much the same thing that we did yesterday). In addition to the patients that we met with the day before, we also met with an elderly woman who was malnourished and refusing to eat. She did not want to talk to us when we visited her. Her file stated that she showed signs of depression, which was probably contributing to her lack of eating and unwillingness to talk with us. Meeting with her was a learning experience for me because it helped me to realize that some patients can be difficult, discouraging, and show a lack of interest in getting better, but it is important to do everything that you can and continue on with your day and your other patients.
My favorite part of today, though, was when we came back from the out-patient facility. We went into the private sector of the Universitas Hospital and into the adult ICU to check on a patient there. The patient was a old man who had renal failure. He appeared to be very malnourished and his blood pressure was extremely low. We were in the ICU for a very long time calculating his dietary needs and picking out the right type of feed for his condition. It was all so interesting to me! I loved being there. Even though I could not help out as much as I would have liked because I not have the proper training, Anna-Marie's presence there seemed very important in my eyes. I think that a clinical dietician is the kind of dietician that I would like to be!