Meet my Preceptor: What It’s Like Working At A Cancer Center & Advice For Future RDNs
Location
I am currently doing one of my community rotations at Ridley-Tree Cancer Center in beautiful Santa Barbara! My preceptor here is Sarah Washburn, the Program Manager who is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with a Master’s degree and is also a Board Certified Specialist in Oncology Nutrition.
What Excites Me About Her Job
What excites me about Sarah’s job is that every day is a little bit different! Even though she is the program manager here, she is not only managing but also seeing patients every day. A typical day includes seeing patients both in her office and in the infusion room. It may also include Tumor Board Meetings with oncologists, surgeons, social workers and other health care professionals at the facility. She also attends a journal club meeting with fellow Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Rebecca Colvin to review new literature about nutrition and discuss how this information may benefit them and their patients. She also may stop in a doctor’s office down the hall or downstairs to see how a patient is doing and of course she charts about patients after their appointments. Let’s just say the days go by quickly and you’re never bored here!
Although every patient seen here is either someone diagnosed with cancer or in remission, every single appointment is so different. Each patient has very specialized needs and they all come in with different questions and concerns. Another aspect I love about this rotation is being able to meet some of the family members of these patients and seeing the love and support they have for each other. During this rotation I have met some of the most kind and inspirational people I have ever met. I am so grateful to be gaining experience here with these amazing patients and my awesome preceptor!
My Preceptor’s Career Path
While completing her Master’s degree, Sarah worked in the burn unit at a trauma center in Seattle. She was actually surprised at how much she liked it. Before this she had worked for WIC, so this was a big change.
Sarah was hired as a relief dietitian at the trauma center and was later offered a full-time RDN job there. After working there for about nine years, she felt it was time to move on to another part of the field of dietetics.
She went on to work at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. She had never worked within the cancer specialty before and was surprised by how much she liked this part of the field. After about 9 years there, Sarah saw an advertisement for the job at Ridley-Tree Cancer Center. She and her family moved to California for the job, because she liked the smaller facility feeling and being able to create unique programs that utilize her expertise to the best of her ability.
My Preceptor’s Current Position
Sarah’s role here is to educate people in the community about oncology nutrition and set up systems so that high risk patients are seen, provide services in a timely manner, relay any policy changes that happen nationally to this community and to continue to counsel patients on evidence-based and up-to-date information. And I can tell you first-hand, she does a great job at all of those things!
Working at Ridley-Tree Cancer Center means you are part of a great interdisciplinary team. No matter where you work, Sarah advises getting to know your team, getting involved, being a part of creating policies and procedures for nutrition and offering your expertise to them. It is so important to advocate the importance of nutrition as part of the patients’ care.
Advice for Future Interns/Future RDNs
When asked what advice she would give to future RDNs, Sarah advised finding out where your salary is coming from when applying for a job. That way you are responsible for your resources and how you can best utilize them.
She also said, if you feel like you are not a valued member of the team, either find out how to be more effective or find a new job. But don’t keep complaining and keep this pattern going without trying to make a change. All RDNs should feel like they are valued health care professionals, because they are!
What Makes Sarah Terrific:
From my very first day here at the Ridley-Tree Cancer Center, Sarah made me feel so welcome. She made me feel welcome to be here and also encouraged me to give my input to the patients during appointments. It is amazing feeling valued and encouraged to give my insight.
She is also amazing because every single day I see her touch so many patients’ lives. So many people come in very stressed and worried about a lot of different things going on in their lives and she meets them where they’re at and helps them by giving them useful and attainable nutrition interventions.
Why I Enjoy Working With Her/How She Inspires Me:
I enjoy working with Sarah because she is very knowledgeable about the field of dietetics and very professional, but she is also very down-to-earth and genuine. I can tell when I work with her that she genuinely cares about these patients (and her interns!) and I can always trust that she will give me honest feedback to help me learn and become the best future dietitian I can be.