Clinical
Medical Nutrition Therapy
DIABETIC PATTERNS & MEAL PLANS
This experience significantly enhanced my knowledge and skills concerning diabetic clients. The assignment was structured into three parts: writing six different patterns adhering to a specific set of requirements and restrictions, translating three of those patterns into sample menus (including meal times, serving sizes, and exchange values), and finally to eat according to one of the patterns for two days. Completing this project, especially eating by the diabetic patterns, gave me a greater level of empathy for the dietary challenges diabetics encounter daily. I also developed a greater level of understanding of how important skills in this area of nutritional assessment and recommendation can be in giving diabetic clients a higher quality of life and health while still catering to preferences and providing balance and variety.
NUTRITION SUPPORT CALCULATIONS
Becoming more familiar with and learning how to better calculate nutrition support was crucial to increasing my understanding of enteral and parenteral products. By requiring me to analyze certain nutritional values as well as adhere to specific requirements, I developed a greater skill level and became more familiar with products I might need to recommend as nutrition support in the future.
RENAL DIET & HANDOUTS
One of my favorite assignments as part of our clinical studies was designing a diet and other materials. We were asked to construct and analyze a one day sample menu as well as create appealing and informative handouts to help dialysis patients understand and monitor the levels of three nutrients in regards to their renal health: phosphorus, potassium, and sodium.
CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD) PRESENTATION
As part of a group project, I helped evaluate a COPD case study and create a PowerPoint presentation, present it to our class in the style of a lecture, as well as handouts designed for COPD patient use. Individually, I also wrote a comprehensive research paper on the subject, which required interpretation of the data involved. This project helped me to enhance skills in many areas, such as working and presenting as part of a team, teaching, and translating researched materials into relevant patient information.