What I’ve Learned about Interacting with Patients
At this point in the internship, I’ve learned how to effectively communicate with patients and other members of the healthcare team. I had never worked in a hospital setting before this internship, so I didn’t know what to expect. I knew it would be vastly different from the experiences I’ve had in community settings. If your internship will be your first time working in a hospital setting, don’t be scared! As long as you go in with an open mind, you don’t need to feel like you’re at a disadvantage, because we’re all still learning. Here are a few things I’ve learned about interacting with patients as a dietetics professional.
Patient Interactions in Foodservice Management
I first gained exposure to patients during my foodservice management rotation at Marian Regional Medical Center. I would go into patient rooms every day for leadership rounding, which is when directors in the hospital visit patients to see how their stay has been. Leaders ask about quality of care, room cleanliness, food, suggestions for improvement, and more. We then pass on the appropriate information to other members of the leadership team during daily meetings.
Initially, I found myself feeling tense and uncomfortable because of these interactions, but the more patients I saw, the more excited I got about leadership rounding. I stopped reading from a script and fell into a more natural rhythm of conversation with each patient. It quickly became my favorite part of my day during my foodservice management rotation. I loved being able to make a day better for patients by listening to how they felt about their stay. If there was anything I could do to brighten their day, I was eager to do it. Sometimes this just meant taking a patient’s food preferences, which seems like a small task, but having food you really like can make a big difference if you aren’t feeling well.
Patient Interactions in Clinical
I took these experiences with patients into my clinical rotation. Although the focus of each visit was different, the same basic skills were still involved. It remained important to have a conversation with the patient and adapt interview questions as needed. It’s essential to get specific and comprehensive information from patients when possible, so you can be detailed in your nutrition assessment and develop your nutrition care plan from that information. For instance, it’s not enough to ask a patient if they’ve had recent unintentional weight loss. You need to ask how many pounds and over how many weeks/months. That way, you can calculate the percent of weight they’ve lost and determine their malnutrition status using that information along with other criteria.
Once again, if I made a patient’s day better in any way, big or small, it made my day better too. Patient education was one of my favorite parts of clinical. One day, I didn’t have many patients, so I spent a considerable amount of time educating a vibrant older woman about the cardiac diet. The other patient in the room joined in on the discussion too, since she had been chatting with my patient before I entered the room. I brought both of them written education materials, answered plenty of questions, and had a few good laughs. I left that room knowing that I made a positive difference in both of their days (and possibly lives!) simply by showing compassion in our conversations and ensuring that they had the information they needed about heart-healthy eating.
Self-Care
There will be days that are more challenging than others. You might lose a patient, or have difficult staff interactions, but you can’t let that paralyze you. My advice would be to talk to others about it. Whether that means opening up to other interns or calling your support network from home, it usually helps to tell loved ones about your struggles. I know that it helps me feel less alone when I can discuss tough cases with friends in the healthcare field. It also helps me to get outside and enjoy the beauty of the San Luis Obispo area whenever possible! Keep these tips in mind and remember that you know your stuff! Take care of your patients, because they're so much more than their disease states, and take care of yourself.
