Dietetic Internship Clinical Experience
I completed my clinical rotation during the months of January through May of 2021. My rotations were at St. Cloud Hospital and Alomere Health in Alexandria, MN. I had the opportunity to learn and practice in multiple inpatient and outpatient units including cardiac, diabetes, neonatal intensive care, pediatric, family birthing center, adult intensive care, medical-surgical, progressive care, neurology, bone/joint and dialysis. My clinical rotation also included one week of clinical leadership and five weeks of staff relief. During my MNT rotations, I enjoyed learning about the impact nutrition has on the body and how the various organ systems are connected.
Staff Relief
I worked on two positions over my five weeks of staff relief. During staff relief, I completed the duties and case load of the inpatient clinical dietitian with a dietitian as my cosigner. For my first round of staff relief, I worked on the neurology and bone/joint units. During my time on the neurology and bone/joint units, I grew in my ability to efficiently and effectively calculate tube feedings and evaluate tolerance. I also gained a lot of experience evaluating patients for the various degrees of malnutrition using ASPEN criteria. During my second round of staff relief, I worked on the Medical 2 Unit, Medical Progressive Care Unit, and Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. While on these units, I worked with heart failure and kidney disease patients, improving my ability to evaluate body mass related weight loss in patients with fluid retention.
Clinical Presentation
During my clinical rotations, I grew a passion for gastrointestinal issues. I decided to do my clinical presentation on medical nutrition therapy for small bowel obstructions and ileuses. I really enjoyed researching for this clinical presentation and learning more about the gastrointestinal tract.
Small Bowel Obstruction and Ileus Medical Nutrition Therapy.pdf