Week 2/6 for food service/long-term care is in the books! Since both of my rotations are at the same site I don’t have defined “food service” days and “long-term care” days. Instead, I might have 8 hours of food service one day and the next might be half of each, etc. Throughout this 6 week semester I’ll be completing 200 hours of food service and 40 of long-term care. If you missed my first week of this rotation, check out DI: Week 32 – Starting Food Service.
My week:
Monday:
Since it was Memorial Day, I was able to work from home today. Katie and I have been working on an in-service presentation for the staff about handwashing and infection control. We also didn’t have class today because of the holiday.
Tuesday:
We did our usual tray checking on the floors for breakfast and lunch. Today was my first time checking the first floor, however, so that was a new experience. Since the first floor of this facility is where all the residents who need the least care live the majority of them are on regular diets. This makes their service a lot easier, and a second set of eyes a lot less necessary. This is why we only have an intern on the first floor on Mondays and Tuesdays when all three of us are here. The third floor and second floor have a lot more modified texture, thickened liquids, and special diets that need to be correct for the resident’s safety. Our priority is the third floor, then the second, and finally the first ranked in order of most care needed to least. We also went over all the dietary manager training materials to get a better idea of the dietary manager’s role and responsibilities. Our preceptor also introduced us to the medical charting system they use for the residents.
Wednesday:
We were going to present our in-service today, but there were a few technical difficulties so we’ll present next week instead. Today, we learned the process to complete a nutrition assessment for a resident in a long-term care setting. There are many similarities to completing an assessment in the hospital, but also some key differences. Obviously, the biggest difference is that our residents aren’t acutely ill or injured or they’d actually be in the hospital. Past medical/surgical history, medications, lab values, weight history, and diet information are vital for both settings. After learning this process, we completed a quarterly nutrition assessment on a resident independently. It felt a little odd since we don’t ask as many questions as in the hospital, but went well. Essentially, we want to assess for any changes in appetite, weight, chewing/swallowing ability, GI symptoms, and food preferences.
Thursday:
I was by myself today since Katie had to leave for her cousin’s wedding and my preceptor called in. Besides supervising meal service and checking trays I worked on other miscellaneous things, but overall it was an uneventful day. It’s always weird when your preceptor isn’t at the site with you. You don’t necessarily know what to do, and none of the other people working there know either. Some preceptors have a list of things for you to work on in their absence while others pretty much just leave you to your own devices. My preceptor this semester is the latter. :P
Friday:
Second day of being the only intern again! It’s funny how, in general, I’ve been the only intern at all of my rotations, but now that I have a couple others with me it feels really odd to be alone again. I did my usual supervision of meal service, and completed another assessment on a resident. This resident was in the memory care unit, but was still able to answer some basic questions. We talked about how she’s been eating and the foods she likes. It will be interesting when we have to do an assessment on a resident with more advanced dementia. We had patients in the hospital with memory problems as well, so it’s not like we’ve never encountered this situation before. The big difference though, is that often when someone is in the hospital they have family with them in the room right there who can help fill in gaps.
Weekend:
I had another pretty uneventful weekend. We finally got a little more info about what to do for our class, so I worked on some stuff for that. I also went hunting for a dress to wear to my friends’ wedding since it’s only a few weeks away!
I’ll continue at the rehab facility next week for week 3/6. Until then!