Clinical

 In order to meet my personal goal of gaining experience in a pediatric hospital, I moved to Ohio for seven months to intern at Dayton Children’s Hospital. The internship provided me rapid, vast experience in both in-patient and out-patient care. My favorite technical rotations were Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU) and Gastrointestinal (GI).  In my short time through these specialty areas, I saw the immense amount of positive effect nutrition therapies can have on a patient. My favorite team rotations were Endocrinology, Gastrointestinal and Cardiac because RDN’s work all day long as integrated members of the medical team. My final month of staff relief was in GI outpatient care. At Dayton Children’s Hospital the GI clinic manages all of the enteral (tube) feeding care for any patient that is on outpatient tube feeding – regardless of the underlying medical reason. I saw many complex care patients and particularly enjoyed collaborating with caregivers and families to figure out nutritionally appropriate, but also easy to administer, tube feeding routines.

A woman in scrubs standing next to a poster of an organ.

Trisomy-21

This project required that I learn how to evaluate and manage the energy needs of a complex care patient that is dependent on enteral nutrition. It also taught me about the subtle way malnutrition can manifest in complex care infants due to the interaction of multiple comorbidities.

Paper
Paper Rubric
Presentation
Presentation Rubric

Autism

This project required that I learn about objective and subjective ways nutrition and diet impact are studied in children. Most research devoted to diet impacts were not scientific or objective; however this is objective proof supporting GFCF diets in some specific cases of autism.

Presentation
Rubric

Diabetes

This project was a comprehensive way for me to understand the full body effects of diabetes and at the same time research vegetarian diabetes friendly recipes and menu options.

Presentation
Rubric

Enteral Nutrition Calculation

I needed to learn how the clinic designs and calculates needs for tube fed patients. Differences in how RDNs approach EN, lack of hospital standards for calculations and documentation and the learning curve for different formulas was tremendous. This is the document that I wish someone gave to me on Day 1 of clinical care.

Quick Start Guide & Paper

Nutrition Care, Counseling and Hospital Care

Counseling patients and providing care solutions is one of my personal strengths – attributed to years of experience managing and motivating teams and employees.

Nutrition Care Process: Diabetes Outpatient - Rubric
Nutrition Counseling: Cardiac Outpatient - Rubric
Hospital Care Commitment: AIDET - Rubric