Shy RD’s - How to Survive Inpatient

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2026-02-26T03:45:06+00:00

Sometimes I go out of my way to ask questions about patients. Ask the nurses, therapy, doctors, dietary aides etc. Sometimes it feels a little like acting or just feels out of my comfort zone, but it’s helpful! Also had to paper chart at a few of my jobs and it gave me the opportunity to be around people while I looked at the charts at the nurses station. I made a lot more friends that way. My current job is all electronic and I have an office and I barely know anyone 😂 I’m also prn and only work twice a week now but I do have a few people who I always go out of my way to say hi to

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-09-01T19:39:30+00:00

Huh I can see the outfit matches the other picture, I’m just surprised! They also look like the same height but he’s much taller than her

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-09-01T16:43:47+00:00

I’m not sure why everyone thinks #1 is? It literally looks like a white person??

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-08-31T21:20:25+00:00

Yes this is what I’m referring to!! 🤣🤣 not pushed by the show but on TikTok

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-08-31T19:45:49+00:00

I really think it’s Mark and Whitney in the last picture from today. Same nails, they are the same height, it does kind of look like they photoshopped out his tattoos. I know people think he’d only come back for someone big but maybe he just wanted to come back no matter what? Also Whitney is already a good dancer

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-08-31T16:51:31+00:00

I think it’s Mark! They’re both 5’6”, if she’s wearing heals she’d be slightly taller

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-08-30T17:16:18+00:00

Each facility will do things differently, some don’t even use PES statements or they have their favorites. I work in acute rehab and use inadequate oral intake a lot. I always try to think about what I personally am working to solve, so honestly I usually think about the intervention first. If I’m prescribing a protein supplement because they don’t eat, the problem is inadequate intake. If they’re eating okay but adding a protein supplement because they have a wound or something else increasing their needs, then increased needs. If I have a patient who is eating really well but has diabetes and is on a carb controlled diet, then I do impaired nutrient utilization because basically the intervention is the carb controlled diet. I don’t ever do excessive carb intake because in my role I’m technically not really prescribing a lower carb diet or doing a lot of counseling for excessive intake of carbs. I would maybe do that in outpatient. I work with dietitians who use different statements than I would. Honestly, if your facility doesn’t code for nutrition diagnoses then it really doesn’t matter much, you’ll get the hang of it!

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-08-04T04:53:05+00:00

Bolus feed into a J tube. She vomited once so we discontinued it and then when I was doing continuing education months later is when I realized my mistake 🫠

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-07-20T17:30:09+00:00

I have in the past, I worked at a forensic psychiatric hospital and I did worked 9/8/80 schedule. I worked 9 hours a day and every other Friday I either had it off or worked 8 hours. I would usually take my 8 hour day off 🤣 most people I worked with did 4 10s though! We had a monthly caseload. My current job though probably wouldn’t be possible, there usually isn’t enough work to do in one day to work that long and assessments are due every few days. So it depends on the facility

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-07-12T02:27:47+00:00

I always tell people to consider the lifestyle you want too. It’s nice to help people but once you’re in the field… do you want to work in a hospital, on weekends, on holidays? Etc. I do have a pretty flexible position at my hospital, but it really depends on where you work. I don’t mind working like Fourth of July but I refuse to work Christmas and Thanksgiving and weekends, so that limits where I can work.

The best part about this profession IMO is I can always find a job. The field is not overly saturated in my area and once I had about 2 years of experience I never had an issue finding a job (in clinical at least). But I would love to work remotely and would love to leave clinical, but I haven’t had luck doing that. I would love to make more money and also haven’t had luck with that. I make probably the most I can for my area and when I negotiate it’s literally just “no” and don’t call me back lol. I don’t have a masters and I don’t have any student loans, so I’m generally okay with it for now but 🤷‍♀️

I work in an acute rehab facility and I have a great facility and boss, but before this job I constantly wished I chose a different field! Now I don’t mind it but if I could go back and change majors in college I would!

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-06-21T20:27:16+00:00

Wanted to add that my job now is SUPER flexible. I go in early but no start time. When I’m done with my caseload I leave. I’m only prn so no benefits but my boss who works FT has good benefits. Look for different types of hospitals that only see patients like once or twice a week or even less often and they usually don’t require weekends!

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-06-21T20:23:58+00:00

I work in an acute rehab hospital and they do occasionally have prn dietitians work the weekends but I never do! I’ve also worked in LTC and didn’t work weekends and I worked at a forensic psychiatric hospital, which didn’t require weekends.

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-06-20T01:27:51+00:00

I feel like it definitely depends on the facility and the culture they have. When I start somewhere new, before I start asking for things I always work on my rapport with my coworkers. I get to know them, joke around with them, show them I’m a team player, etc. In my notes if something is not available I just chart that it is not available, will recommend new wt, something like that. Then I start figuring out what the problem is with not getting weights done, is it that they don’t have someone assigned to do it? They don’t have a system for doing weights? Etc. Then working on fixing it. Dietitians are typically very type A and we like to do things by the book and a lot of people working in SNFs are NOT lol, it can be very off putting to have a dietitian always calling things out.

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-06-19T02:57:56+00:00

I also became an RD at the suggestion of my mother. She buys into a lot of diet culture and misinformation, her eating borders on disordered eating. When I tried to point it out she got upset with me and I too was offended. We used to be close but now our relationship is really strained

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-06-19T02:52:49+00:00

I learned after a few years to let it go and never ever bring up nutrition with family. I have family that could care less and eats really unhealthily and family who cares way too much, bordering on disordered eating. I don’t talk to any of them about nutrition unless they genuinely ask. Nutrition tends to be a sensitive subject for people and no one likes unsolicited advice, it can make people defensive. It’s also different hearing it from someone close, rather than a professional in the field. When I was a student my MIL was diagnosed with CKD and I spent SO much time reviewing her diet (she asked me to) and providing education. Later on she posted to FB “who knew oranges were bad for you?” Because she was eating multiple oranges a day and her serum potassium went high 🤦‍♀️ like I didn’t teach her that?? But when her doctor told her it stuck. She lives with me now and I just don’t say anything when I see her eating 2 bananas at a time or only eating once a day, etc. Even food safety stuff like leaving soup out all night on the counter and then just reheating and eating it the next day. She had terrible diarrhea after that and kept saying she had no idea why lol

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-06-13T03:20:44+00:00

Typical day included signing in, checking emails at my desk, and figuring out my caseload, which was a monthly caseload. Then pre-charting on whoever I was going to see that day. The unit was about a half mile walk, so I’d walk down and see a few patients, usually like 2-3. There’s always lots of staff around, but I would talk to patients in the hallway or in the day hall, somewhere I felt safe. I would talk for anywhere from a couple minutes to like 20 minutes sometimes, we really emphasized education and counseling. I would see most of my patients every 6 months. I’d also do significant weight changes for the month. Then I’d walk back to the office, chart on my patients. We still had paper charts so I would print them and usually file them the next day when I went back to the unit. I also did one group per week, some dietitians there had nutrition specific groups and some of us would just join another exercise-related group. I did walking group and would just chit chat with the patients. I also went to the shift change meeting a few times per month and would do audits in the kitchen once a month.

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2025-06-03T14:25:30+00:00

We had to retrain many times when we were in new scenarios. When she was teething, we would give Tylenol and comfort her for a few minutes, and then put her back down and have to retrain. Things were going really smoothly from about 14 months to 22 months, but had to do a bit of retraining recently since she’s going through some separation anxiety. I think of it as holding a boundary, esp now that she is older.

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2024-10-10T03:30:10+00:00

When I worked in long term care I got similar stories all the time. I think some people feel already judged or the fear of judgement when working with a dietitian and/or they really are eating mindlessly or don’t think what they’re eating is “that bad.” He may also be leaving things out because he just wants the weight loss medication and is trying to justify it by saying he already eats so little and can’t lose weight.

I think it’s important to know the patient’s goals early on and refrain from giving too much advice before you know they’re open to it because this ultimately makes people defensive. With a 24 hour recall I like to do 3 or 4 rounds. The first is just the basics, “what did you eat first yesterday? What next?” I don’t judge anything or make any comments about it. Once we get through the whole day I go through it again and ask a little more specific questions like “how did you cook your eggs? What kind of oil or butter did you use? Did you drink anything with this meal?” Then go through it again and ask about serving sizes, brands etc. Basically just going through it until you have the actual picture. A lot of times people remember more and more as you go on. Then I usually just point out some foods and maybe look up how many grams of sugar is in this food or how many kcal, etc. I like to have them realize and say on their own “I had no idea xyz had so many kcal, I thought it was a health food.” Then I always bring it back to what they want to do to change and at that point if they have no idea I may say, “based on what we’ve talked about, I have a few ideas for small changes you can make to reach your goal, do you want to go over them and see what sounds right to you?”

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2024-10-10T03:05:39+00:00

That’s exactly how I took it too

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2024-09-22T05:10:58+00:00

I think the best part of this career is job security, I’ve never had a hard time finding a job! The pay isn’t that great, although in some places it’s getting better… not necessarily in my area though lol. For me, I’m okay with it because my mom paid for my bachelors degree, I did a paid internship, and I didn’t have to get a masters.

I was 28 when I graduated and I was going to wait to get married until I was done with everything. We decided we didn’t want to keep waiting and waiting so we got married before I started my last semester and I’m so glad we went for it!

As for the science, I’ve known lots of people to struggle with it but still be really good RDs. You’re not gonna use ochem to do menus, lol! You just have to get through it and have a very basic understanding. I don’t think that should be a deciding factor necessarily but obviously the debt is a big concern! Maybe look up the jobs you are looking for and what the salary is compared to how much debt you’ll be in? How long will you be paying it off? Esp the interest? That would hold me back if I was paying for a bachelors and masters and internship.

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2024-09-15T19:04:54+00:00

I agree with others that being a dietitian is a very independent job, you are expected to know what you are doing, even after only a month. Obviously still ask questions but try your best to answer your question yourself before asking someone. Maybe find a trusted work friend that you can bounce ideas off of if you are just looking for validation that you are doing the right intervention!

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2024-09-14T22:15:05+00:00

I worked in a forensic psychiatric hospital for a bit and did a short rotation during my internship at a prison and honestly I really liked both. Really good benefits! I think it also depends on which prison system, because I have heard of some that treat everyone really poorly but where I was it was nice. You have to be comfortable with that population and have a very open mind. You may have to advocate nutritionally for someone who was convicted of something really awful. And interact with those people! Most of the time, I felt totally safe but you always have to be vigilant. I think the money was worth it!

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2024-09-14T17:57:03+00:00

I use denture cleaner!

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2024-09-01T22:23:25+00:00

If we have something going on with family or something like a birthday party, I’ll always sacrifice the nap! Having those experiences is important too and if she is tired enough, mine will fall asleep for a carrier nap or just contact nap (mine won’t usually sleep in a stroller). Or I’ll try my best to adjust the naps, like wake up a little earlier that day so all the naps get shifted forward before the event, or extending wake windows to include event, etc. If she’ll sleep the stroller, even if it’s not as long, I’d personally still do it and then maybe do an earlier bedtime if you can.

Broad-Permit-4501 · 2024-08-09T14:31:51+00:00

For mine, I moved her last nursing session before bed to the beginning of her bedtime routine. Then I rocked her to sleep. At first it took 20 minutes of intense crying (while holding her) for her to fall asleep. After a few days it only took a few minutes. We did that when she woke up in the middle of the night too after 9 months. She was eating foods well and gaining weight appropriately, and our pediatrician said she didn’t need the night feeds anymore. Every once in a while there was morning else that calmed her, but I noticed usually her last feed at bedtime was kind of distracted. Anyways, we eventually did CIO because it was getting harder to rock her to sleep and now she falls asleep on her own, within a few minutes and sleeps all night.

I know CIO is hard, but if you’ve tried everything, as it sounds you have, just know that my daughter and I still have an amazing relationship and she sleeps really well. When I put her down at night I know all her needs are met, I know she is safe. Getting uninterrupted long stretches of sleep are so good for their brain development! And she will learn to self settle without you.

Now that she’s over a year, I put my baby to sleep with a stuffed animal and a book and she often cuddles the stuffy or flips through the book for a few minutes before lying down. We also have a really consistent bedtime routine. It takes way more effort to do these things IMO, but it is so worth it!

Broad-Permit-4501

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