day one…

wow. i’m tired.

today was the first day of orientation.

we arrived at 8 a.m. and left at 4:15 p.m. not bad.

natalie and i got a tour of the hospital, received our badges (see the banner above), reviewed hospital policies (dress code, vacation days, HIPAA), and i got the green light to write this blog. i wasn’t so sure about confidentiality issues, but it turns out that i am okay as long as i don’t mention any patients by name or initials.

first impressions: great, laid-back dietitians. it should be a challenging, but not over-the-top-stressful summer. turns out i may not get to do a lactation rotation, which is a bummer. but that may change.

lunch is free up to $6.00 everyday, which is wonderful, but since we’re paying tuition for the summer we’ve essentially already paid for lunch.

what else?

the adult dietitians are slightly understaffed (adult dietitians are dietitians who treat adults, not dietitians who are adults), while the pediatric department is fully staffed. this bodes well for natalie and me as we’re both interested in peds (read: peeds). being fully staffed means these dietitians may actually have the time and normal-sized workload to teach and be patient with us. the adult dietitians seem to be taking on more than they want to chew. they can chew it. but it’s more that they want to masticate. see? i’m tired. i’m blogging about mastication.

we also reviewed the nutrition care process (NCP) and the A-D-I-M-E charting format. i am so relieved that UNC is already using the NCP as it’s a relatively new way dietitians chart their assessment (A), diagnosis (D), intervention (I), monitoring and evaluation (M-E) in the medical record, and i know many hospitals have been slow to initiate it.

tomorrow is day two of orientation.

i’ll be wearing my slip-resistant shoes in the very slippery hospital kitchen as we become oriented with the diet office and witness the kitchen staff assembling and delivering breakfast trays to patients.

off to sleep. more to come.