Dietetic Intern
Professional Meetings
Austin Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics November Meeting- Breaking BAD Connections: Karen Martin, MA, RDN, LN, FAND, AMD- Infusion Nutrition Program Director. The purpose of her talk was to summarize the new Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert (Issue 36) concerning tubing misconnections and what is being done to prevent them. Ms. Martin also spoke on the Global Enteral Device Supplier Association (GEDSA) initiative, which would provide international standards in medical device tubing connections in order to increase patient safety.
Austin Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics January Meeting- Functional Medicine: Kylie Bentley, RD, LD & McCall McPherson, PA-C. At this meeting, Kylie Bentley described her path to becoming the in-store dietitian for HEB as well as the job responsibilities for a grocery store dietitian- employee wellness as well as customer wellness, developing nutrition education materials, & teaching cooking classes. McCall McPherson ended the meeting by discussion her job as a Physician Assistant who practices in Functional Medicine as well as giving a detailed description of the field of Functional Medicine.
ASPEN Clinical Nutrition Week 2016- I was very lucky to be able to attend ASPEN this year. I attended a multitude of sessions throughout the week, but my favorites included the “ICU Microbiome Project: Critical Illness is Associated with Loss of Microbial Diversity and Major Alterations in Bacterial Flora,” “Are We Creating Survivors or Victims in the ICU: How Optimal Nutritional Management Can Change the Future?” “What’s New In The 2016 A.S.P.E.N Guidelines for the Adult Critically Ill Patient?” & “Perinatal Nutrition- From Nutrients to the Microbiome: Are We What We Eat or What Our Mother Eats?”
Austin Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics March Meeting- Collaboration Among Medical Disciplines: Building the Bridge Between RD’s and MD’s, Kristin Hicks, MS, RD, LD. This was a fantastic talk by PhD student Kristin Hicks that outlined her research regarding doctor’s education in nutrition, their views on RDs and what we do, and their knowledge on how to refer to an RD. She then closed out her talk by discussing how we, as RDs, can bridge these knowledge gaps that MDs have regarding referrals to RDs by providing them with handouts on what we do and how to refer to us. It was an extremely informative presentation!
Abbott- Interpretation and Application of Guidelines for the Provision and Assessment of Nutrition Support Therapy in the Adult Critically Ill Patient. I attended this presentation during my Seton clinical rotation. The Abbott representatives provided this presentation and discussion as a means to open communication regarding the formulas they were currently providing to Seton and how they fit in to the new A.S.P.E.N. guidelines. I found this presentation to be very beneficial because it helped reinforce the new guidelines. I also found the discussion to be very interesting because there were some arguments as to what formulas were considered to be “immune modulating.”
Abbott- Ensure Enlive Presentation & Taste Testing. I got the chance to attend this meeting during my Administrative rotation at Resolute Health. The Abbott representative discussed the benefits of HMB provided samples for taste testing. I enjoyed this presentation because I was able to provide information to my future clinical patients about this product and let them know that it actually tasted good. Because of this, I believe that I got more patients to accept oral supplements that were truly in need of them.
Seton Hays Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Program- Michelle Patrick-Sanchez, BSN, RN, CPN, Performance Improvement Advisor II, Center for Experience and Effectiveness. This presentation provided information to the other Seton Hospital sites on the ERAS program and how it was developed and implemented at Seton Hays. The ERAS program includes an RD component, which my clinical preceptor, Sarajane Morris, developed along with another Seton dietitian Juanita Escamilla. Michelle discussed the ERAS program as a whole, and Sarajane and Juanita then discussed their contributions to the program and how other dietitians at Seton sites could contribute to ERAS programs, if implemented.
Austin Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics May Meeting- UT Dietetic Students Case Study Presentations. I was one of the presenters for the May meeting for the Austin Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. I presented my Unusual Diagnosis case study from my clinical rotation at Seton Hays. See the Clinical tab to view my Unusual Case Study presentation power point!
Seton Dietitian Network Meetings, A.S.P.E.N Critical Care Guidelines Discussions- During my time as a Seton intern, I was able to attend two meetings of all the dietitians in the Austin-area network. During these meetings, they discussed the newly released A.S.P.E.N. critical care guidelines, how to interpret them, and how to put them into practice. They also discussed the current Seton formulary and whether some of these formulas fit into the new guidelines. I really enjoyed being a part of these discussions because it updated my knowledge on the A.S.P.E.N. guidelines and we also got to discuss how to implement the guidelines as a practicing dietitian. I felt that this was a very timely meeting, since I was able to attend this at the very beginning of my clinical rotation, and I felt that it prepared me immensely for my critical care patients.