Hey hi hello!
I’ve missed a week of posting as my second rotation has proven much more hectic than my first.
My days are longer, my workload heavier, and the increased use of my brain (as I’m learning tons) are all leaving me rather drained by the time I get a chance to breathe – whether that be on a weeknight or the weekend.
Due to the fact that I’m rather behind on posting about my internship, I’m going to clump my first half of Family Health Team together.
So my first week started out really well. As this is my first clinical rotation of internship, my preceptor and I discussed our expectations for the next few weeks and I was relieved to hear she was not expecting me to be able to do a whole lot on my own by the end.
Well, by the end of two weeks I’ll say that I’ve done a lot of observing and a little bit of interacting with patients. I’ve collected mostly diet recalls, which I found were a good way to start out interacting with patients. I’ve also done some charting, and I’ve been participating in the education portions of appointments more and more as I gain my confidence.
On the Friday of my second week, my preceptor expressed that she felt I was ready to try and conduct my first appointment on my own, under her supervision. I was a little uneasy, but swallowed my fear and agreed. It may be scary to talk to a patient on your own for the first time, but I know it to be true that the only way to learn or get comfortable with something is to just jump in.
So on my own, I went out and retrieved the patient from the waiting room, I introduced myself as the student and gained her consent to conduct the session under my preceptor’s supervision. The session started out great, until about 10 minutes in the patient began looking at my preceptor only when she was speaking. I figured the patient ended up being more comfortable interacting with the preceptor, and I totally understood. My preceptor graciously tried to direct the conversation back to me but I politely declined because the session ended up revolving largely around mental health and disordered eating/thoughts impacting eating habits and I was in no way comfortable counseling on these topics at the time.
Although it didn’t exactly go the way I’d hoped, I was proud of myself for trying and I now feel more comfortable speaking with patients going forward.
For the most part, FHT has been really enjoyable. Although my preceptors are taking it slow with me, I have learned a ton about a wide variety of different conditions. For example, we’ve seen patients for chronic disease and related conditions (Prediabetes and diabetes – both type 1 and 2, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, metabolic syndrome, etc.), pediatrics (picky eating, nutrient deficiencies, overweight/obesity), eating disorders, general healthy eating and weight management, multiple sclerosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and IBS and IBD.
I’ve got another 2 weeks left, and I’m hoping in these next 2 weeks my patient interactions will increase along with my confidence levels in counseling. I know this update is short but sweet and I hope to get another post out in the coming weekend.
Since this post was so short, I figured I’d share some photos of my eats these past few weeks!
My boyfriend and I had brunch on the weekend at George St. Diner! I had the “Light and Easy” (bottom) and the organic eggs + challah toast were perfect!
Homemade PB cups (check out my recipe section if you know you need to make these ASAP)
Eggs & toast with the yummiest new Lemongrass Sriracha from Fix Hot Sauce!
Afternoon sweet-tooth satisfying with banana, PB and chocolate. Oh, and thanks to JORD Wood Watches for sending me this gorgeous watch! I’m obsessed. You can win a gift card to shop JORD here: https://www.woodwatches.com/g/todaywillbedelicious (contest closes November 20!)
Pumpkin smoothie bowls.. I still have so much pumpkin left from October!
The bessssst pizza at Pizzeria Libretto with my intern gals. Totally recommend this spot! Their cremini mushroom pizza is amazing.
Annnnd waffles on the weekend, of course.
Thanks for reading guys!
Hannah
Today will be Delicious 