Description
On Wednesday, October 8th a fellow classmate, Laree, and I visited St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver. We spent the afternoon with Sinead Feeney, Clinical RD. We split our time between Sinead and Johnny Wu, the Food Services Supervisor in the kitchen of St. Paul’s.
St. Paul’s Hospital is an acute care, research and teaching hospital. It is located on 1081 Burrard St. in downtown Vancouver and it is home to many programs and services such as HIV/AIDS, mental health, heart and lung services, cardiac care and critical care, to name a few. Sinead is a Clinical Cardiac Dietitian and so works in the cardiac unit of St Paul’s Hospital. When we met with Sinead she sat down with us and explained the work that she does as a Dietitian in an acute setting. As we asked her questions she deflected them back towards us, which I thought was a really excellent way to get us thinking about the profession by using what we have already learned as Dietetics Students. As we went through the series of questions we had, we tried to answer them and Sinead would help us out and also give extra explanations to ensure that we had a thorough understanding of what she does in the hospital.
After chatting with Sinead for about half an hour, we met Johnny, who is the Food Services Supervisor in the hospital kitchen. Johnny was very enthusiastic and helpful and took us on a tour of the entire two-floor kitchen. He was more than happy to answer any questions we had and just as Sinead had been, he was very thorough and informative. Johnny showed us where the food for all the meals is stored and prepped, and he gave us some background on policies and procedures the kitchen staff follow. Johnny also introduced us to other members of the Food Service Team. During this visit we went through an example of a patient menu, which has a variety of foods that the patient from which the patient chooses. The hospital works on a two week rotation, meaning every two weeks the menu starts over again. This is to help ensure that patients receive a variety of different foods. In addition to menu cards the hospital provides comment cards to the patients so they can express their likes and dislikes for different aspects of the menu.
Reflection
In my preparation for the dietetics course at UBC, I shadowed quite a few dietitians in acute, residential, and community settings. I really valued this particular site visit because I had not ever had the opportunity to speak with a Dietitian working in an acute Cardiac setting. I had a mentor a few years ago who was a Dietitian working in an outpatient Cardiac centre, so I feel that this most recent experience has added to my exposure to the profession. Sinead was quite informative and went into a lot of detail about the different roles and responsibilities a clinical Dietitian has. One thing that I am excited for during internship is be able to do some hands-on learning in the field, and I felt that this visit with Sinead really got me thinking about all the roles of a clinical dietitian; things I have not yet learned in my education thus far. Although I am not yet sure what direction I want to go with my career, I do think that Clinical Dietetics appeals to me. The amount of exposure to different areas of healthcare and different healthcare professionals you would have as a Clinical Dietitian interests me, and this visit has made me revisit these thoughts. In our site report we named ten different roles of a Clinical Dietitian, some of which include education, working in an interdisciplinary team, advocacy and helping patients improve their health. These are just a few examples, and these are also many of the reasons I want to be a Dietitian. Education, health and advocacy on behalf of others are just three of the aspects of Dietetics I value, and it is experiences like this site visit that reaffirms my interest in the profession.
In addition to finding things that I am extremely passionate about, this site visit helped me address some things within the program that make me nervous. It was nice to meet a Dietitian in a clinical setting and to talk briefly about internship. While I am extremely excited for the next few years of my education, sometimes it can feel overwhelming. It is helpful to talk to other students and professionals about our career path since everyone has felt nervous and excited at different points during this process.
Although Johnny is not a Dietitian it was quite helpful to talk to him and have him explain the processes that take place within a hospital kitchen. I sat down with a Food Services Dietitian once a few years ago, and this visit with Johnny helped remind me of the different roles and responsibilities that we had discussed back then. Although I am not quite sure if Food Services appeals to me, it is still very important to gain as much exposure as possible to different areas of the profession. I think that, after this site visit, I will seek out more Food Service Dietitians to speak with, as this might help me educate me a bit more on this very important job. It certainly seems like it takes a large amount of organization and leadership skill to run a large hospital kitchen, and this is something I appreciated about Johnn’y s tour. He seemed to have an excellent rapport with the other staff members and he was very friendly and patient with his co-workers, skills that are necessary for a good supervisor.
After visiting St. Paul’s I feel as if I have learned even more about the many areas in which a Dietitian can work. It was nice to get to know more professionals in the field, and it was also nice to get to know another of my classmates. All of these experiences are going to help in my future years of school and internship by allowing me to draw upon them when making future career and education decisions. I look forward to the next opportunity!
Please feel free to read our site report here: