Clinical Day 1!

Although my first day at the hospital was fairly uneventful, I think I am going to love my placement! I spent the majority of the morning taking a tour of the hospital, which was fairly useless because I still have absolutely no idea where any thing is, but I got to see 2 patients after the tour. I loved seeing patients! They were both very friendly and easy to work with. One had an allergy to chlorine and couldn't drink tap water or eat anything that was cooked in tap water, and the other had post polio syndrome. Both interesting cases that I had never seen before. My preceptor just graduated from the UPEI program this past November so she knows exactly what it's like to be an intern and is super chill about making sure I complete all my learning objectives. I spent the afternoon at a manor with a different dietitian since my preceptor only works part time in the mornings. The afternoon was spent analyzing the nutrition composition of recipes that the manor makes in order to determine if the diet recipes are in fact appropriate for diabetic patients and patients with special diet orders. We were looking at the calorie, protein, carbohydrate, sugar, fiber, fat, sodium and potassium values for each recipe. I ended up meeting up with a few of the other interns throughout the day in various places and talked to another two after I got home. I can't help but wonder how this isn't a reality tv show yet! I guess the whole patient confidentiality thing messes that up, but some of the stories from today are a little crazy already and its only been one day!

The days are going to fly by! I'm usually with the In-patient dietitian in the morning and the Out-patient dietitian in the afternoons, with a 1 hour lunch in between. Although the day went by fast, I am pooped! I had to get up super early because I was so unprepared last night for this morning. So right now I am packing my lunch and my books and my clipboard and my name tag and making sure everything is ready so that I can just wake up, eat breakfast and hit the road. I'm hoping this will give me at least an extra half an hour of sleep. I drove out to Summerside by myself this morning but have found someone to carpool with from now on which is awesome because it'll save both of us on gas money. My carpool starts half an hour before me but I'm planning on bringing my book with me and grabbing a coffee while I wait, or going over my notes from the day before or working on my presentation on non-diabetic hypoglycemia.

I am sooo pumped for tomorrow! I'll be meeting a new dietitian in the morning to do Out-Patient and then I'll be back with my preceptor from this morning to do In-patient in the afternoon. I feel like tomorrow is really my first day because today was just orientation and stuff. I'm off to get ready and get to bed early so I'll be ready for a big day tomorrow. It;s also POURING rain right now and is supposed to start thunder storming soon too. Our house is super old so I can hear the rain on the roof in bedroom. Perfect for cozying up nice and early with a book. 9 pm bedtime it is!