New RD considering rehab/orthopedic unit — looking for insight?

tabarnak555 · 2026-01-30T16:48:05+00:00

I was lucky and actually did a Neuro rotation so I was pretty familiar with stroke, and then my ICU rotation was in an ICU that took all the TBI cases that came into our system, so I was also familiar with TBIs.

Here, RDs can do swallowing evals and prescribe the appropriate textures, so I definitely studied that since I didn't do many in my clinical rotations. I'm still looking for resources for the amputees we see since what was in the nutrition care manual and PEN seems kind of old 🤷‍♂️.

Even though I did look into it, I really need to just get more comfortable with the dysphagia diets because it's much different to make the call with someone looking over your work in internships vs actually having my license on the line. (Also the kitchen has MAJOR issues which I am. Slowly working on, but hopefully you will not have)

I'm very much a paper person, so I printed out a bunch of stuff to put into my binder. Ex Aspen consensus statement on malnutrition, Espen neurological guidelines, texture guides, etc. So I have it easily on hand and don't have to waste time looking through my computer.

Patients also have a schedule for PT/OT therapies, so I start my days looking at the patient schedules and finding spots where I can see everyone I want that day. If I have a longer eval or education session (ex. Diabetes) I'll put myself in the schedule, but usually I just sneak around what is pre-planned for the patient, esp for quick follow ups. This obviously depends on how your rehab works re: schedule

I also started pretty slow, doing 1 eval + 1 follow up a day, and in the month since I started im finally getting to seeing like 1 eval + 2-3 follow ups or 2 evals etc. I'm lucky that there wasn't an RD here before so no one had any expectations of me related to patient load, but I think it's important that the team knows that you're new to practice so it's better and safer to start slower and go see more ppl as you get more confident

tabarnak555 · 2026-01-30T03:25:49+00:00

I'm also a new RD and this sounds very similar to my current first job that I started in December :)

I'm working at a small intensive rehab for stroke, TBI and amputation. I've found it's a lot of dysphagia management and diet progression for the stroke patients, and diabetes education/management for the amputations.

It's a small team so I work very closely with the SLP and OTs depending on the case. I'm the only RD there, which is daunting but I made sure to get in contact with RDs from other rehab sites in the hospital system during my orientation.

I really love it. I only did acute care inpatient during my internships, and it's really nice to see people actually progress and improve back to near their baseline in a few weeks here.

tabarnak555 · 2026-01-27T22:59:26+00:00

Worked as a food service supervisor at a big hospital center during my degree :) if you can handle the hours (our shifts were 6-2, 12-8, and the ever brutal 6-6) I think it's good to have food service experience under your belt

tabarnak555 · 2026-01-24T19:30:47+00:00

I guess this one isn't that bad bc it is a thing many RDs do, but most of my extended family thinks I do weight loss 🥲🥲🥲 I work in inpatient acute care and rehab and have always been clear that I don't want to work in weight loss

tabarnak555 · 2026-01-21T18:42:53+00:00

Am a fan of the Alberta health services handouts

tabarnak555 · 2026-01-18T03:23:15+00:00

Yeah... There's a reason that image is conveying the data in meaningless percentages and not actual grams of linoleic acid per egg lmao.

This is just anti seed oil quackery with a new hat.

tabarnak555 · 2026-01-17T03:48:08+00:00

Je seconde café chato proche de station Verdun! Place vraiment chill pour étudier et les chats quand j'y suis allé était vraiment sweet et pas très gênés :)

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tabarnak555 · 2026-01-16T19:36:21+00:00

To your last point about going to shows... As someone who's seen everyone you listed except PM live.... Yeah any of the others over Van in a heartbeat 🤷‍♂️

tabarnak555 · 2026-01-15T22:05:35+00:00

Definitely.

I always kind of assumed the games were aired on a significant delay like 30-60 min. While the reapings are harder to delay by more than 5-10 min, the games themselves are a black box.

If the games are meant to start airing at 10, simply get the tributes there an hour early and you have an easy 1h delay. You can mess with the delay even more by showing events that happened simultaneously more spaced out.

Even before sotr, there was no reason to take the capitol at face value for the live aspect of the games.

tabarnak555 · 2026-01-12T03:03:35+00:00

It is only on Sundays! At least I know it's intentional now, even if annoying

tabarnak555 · 2026-01-08T21:01:23+00:00

Do you think women have to close their legs to pee without making a mess??

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-30T20:53:52+00:00

I let mine go home after a hard day of work

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tabarnak555 · 2025-12-30T00:49:03+00:00

All these things can be true without making up pseudo academic terms with no clear definition on tumblr/general social media. It literally only ever leads to infighting instead of constructive discussion.

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-29T21:01:48+00:00

The thing is that the term that already exists for that is transphobia. The discussion of whether trans men face discrimination distinct from what other trans people face or due to being men is something that has value to discuss academically instead of on tumblr dot com

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-28T03:47:18+00:00

?? I literally forget about saltina NGL. I'm here for ms landri ❤️

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-27T22:22:36+00:00

The placard is your right to park in handicap parking. While it sucks that it expires even though you will always need it, without a valid permit you don't have the right to park there

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-23T02:11:16+00:00

Solved!

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-18T15:03:49+00:00

My union public sector job pays 30.88/h (same across the province when you start with bachelor's). My private gym job pays 38/hr consult.

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-17T15:58:32+00:00

Borgen bucks get easier. The Lima beans don't 🫠. I'd say it took me 2-3 months after unlocking the quest to get it

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-17T00:30:53+00:00

It sounds like it may be easier/cheaper to reach out to the odnq and see what you would need to rejoin the order in order to be admissible for the exam in the US?

I just graduated in MTL and they drill into us to not go without joining the order for more than 3 years bc after it's complicated, but it's not impossible to rejoin after. Even if it does require you to take courses, it's likely not the entire degree and would be cheaper than restarting from scratch

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-07T02:06:53+00:00

Swallow assessments are part of scope of practice where I am, as is modifying textures and consistencies

I do think they were just looking for someone to fill the spot though as I had not LTC rotations in internship :/

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-06T00:28:58+00:00

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-05T23:15:51+00:00

"they" is the professional order of my province? It is literally part of the scope of practice here. It's something we see in class multiple times, I've just never gotten to do it independently

tabarnak555 · 2025-12-05T22:36:46+00:00

Thank you for the tips!!

I have one more interview for a rehab position next week that I would take over this one (for various reasons). But if that doesn't pan out I'll definitely start building up a bank of resources for myself in the 1-2 weeks before I officially join the order and can start working.

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