I hope you’re reading this! The contact form didn’t work properly so all I got was your subject line. It didn’t capture your name or email, so here I am trying to find you in blogosphere. Please fill out the contact form again (it works now!) – I’ll do my best to answer whatever inquiry you might have had. :)
During the “research phase” of deciding whether or not I should enter the field of nutrition, I solicited the advice of several RDs to get their perspective on the matter. This is what one friend had to say:
There is so much to say about the field of dietetics, but I can give you a little glimpse of what it’s like to be an RD. There are pretty much 3 different directions you can pursue: 1) administration, 2) community, 3) clinical.
Administration allows for more career growth, and obviously more money in the long run if you want to advance far in a hospital or school setting. This includes management, budgeting, policy writing, etc etc. At the entry level, administrative dietitians will provide menu planning in a hospital setting, working with vendors, obtaining patient satisfactions, and some management for kitchen staff. This requires almost no patient encounters and interactions.
Community nutrition settings include schools, clinics, and public health clinics.. This may include fighting in the government policy level, program implementation for communities, policy writing, and grant writing. You will be able to affect change in a larger scale if you like. Usually, dietitians who are in outpatient education are included in this category. They work in hospital or clinic and work with patients 1:1 or conduct classes to educate them on disease-specific nutrition-related issues, such as diabetes, heart disease, renal disease, etc etc.
Clinical nutrition settings are usually in hospitals or long-term care facilities. This is the setting I’ve been working for the last 3 years. In the hospital setting, there’s an interdisciplinary component where you are working with doctors, nurses, speech therapist, social workers to care fo a patient. The goal is to optimize the patient’s nutrition status. You see a variety of patients and make recommendations based on anthropometric measures, labs, medical history, and diagnoses. You also a wider variety of things such as, patient education, recommendations for tubefeedings/IV feedings rates, and making sure the patient is eating well. So far, I’ve been enjoying the clinical side as it is very challenging; there’s always more to learn and interesting cases to see! However, I’m actually in the process of possibly transferring to the clinic side, as the working schedule in the hospital settings require you to work certain weekends and holidays. I think for my personal well-being a more structured schedule is better for me.
I hope this gives you some insight to what RDs do. Please feel free to email me more with any questions!
This was so helpful for me! I didn’t know that RDs were so prominent in so many different fields. There are plenty of options out there for those like me who are considering this career path.
Its been decided. I’m going to pursue that career as a Registered Dietitian! You might remember my doubts about this, but after attending Loma Linda’s Open House on Sunday… my hubby and I both agreed it was a feat that could be done.
This post is gonna be a headache for you. Bear with me.
Prior to attending the Open House, I was confused about what track I should apply for. Loma Linda offers two Nutrition tracks – one through their School of Allied Sciences and the other through their School of Public Health. The School of Allied Sciences gives you a Master’s of Science (M.S.) in Nutrition. The School of Public Health leads you to a Master’s in Public Health (M.P.H.) with an emphasis in Nutrition & Dietetics. Both can get me that desired R.D. title. After the info session, I decided that I want to apply for Loma Linda’s M.P.H. program.
Some things I learned about it…
What I liked about Loma Linda was their desire to be hands on with their students. They don’t just let you loose to sink or swim once you enter their program. After a useless liberal arts education at UC Irvine, I knew this was what I wanted. Loma Linda also does a lot of missions trips around the world to help nations without good medical resources. Did I also tell you that if I become a student, all my medical and dental expenses will be free of charge?? What a perk.
Now comes the tough part of doing well in my prereqs and actually getting accepted into the program. My 2nd choice school would be Cal State LA’s M.S. in Nutrition. Loma Linda and CalStateLA are the only 2 schools in California that offers a CADE-accredited Nutrition program that also includes supervised practice.
Why do I want to stay in-state? Tuition costs for out of state students are DOUBLE those in-state. Yikes!! I don’t have that kind of money to burn.
(courtesy of Tikko Weddings)
My husband said to me once that he hopes he’ll always be in the mode of “falling in love” with me. He didn’t mean falling in love as some feel good giddy emotion. He was talking about the state of always learning more and more about the other. With every new mystery revealed, is that chance to fall in love again and again and again.
Marriage Notes: For me to remember 5, 10, 15… 50 years from now.
My marriage relationship is even stronger and better than our dating years. The love gets deeper and sweeter by the day. My marriage is still in the early stages, so only time will tell. My hope, though, is that I never stop learning to love him… I hope I will always be in that continual state of “falling in love” by his definition…
Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time on the ADA (American Dietetic Association) website researching what it takes to become a Registered Dietitian (RD). That is where my true passion lies – helping myself as well as others make healthier decisions for their lives. Sometimes I wish I had the guts to pursue this career path earlier… like oh, say, maybe when I was an undergrad. For those who knew they wanted to become an RD early on, all they had to do was graduate with a B.S. in Nutrition, complete a CADE-accredited supervised program, and pass the RD national exam. I feel like I lost precious, wasted time by avoiding those darn science classes earlier on.
It’s funny how life throws curveballs at you, I feel like I am at that same crossroads time and again – that confusing yet necessary place that we all submit to at the many, various points in our life. We all know that place. That place where we’re left wondering (again), what next?
I’m at my life’s crossroad again. Currently unemployed (due to the economy), yet halfway through an MBA. Do I continue the job search and focus on what I’ve been doing the last 4 years of my life? (Project Management). The MBA will help me regardless if I get that second Master’s in Nutrition. Or despite all that, should I pursue a career in Dietetics – requiring another 3-4 years devoted to a rigorous, science-heavy curriculum. Can my husband’s lone income sustain the both of us while I go and pursue my heart’s desire? Will the outcome outweigh the costs? Decisions Decisions. They’re neverending…
Many of you have probably seen/heard about the devastation that hit Haiti on Tuesday. The 7.0 earthquake crushed thousands of buildings and left many more dead. The death toll is still unknown, with numbers rising by the minute. I’ve been reading a lot of news articles and reader responses since the tragedy. Here’s a comment (from the NYtimes) that really shocked me: “The US government better pay for my heart operation ($29,751) before they send a single dime to Haiti!!” – have people no heart?
This may just be my opinion, but people are still people regardless of race or nationality or what country they’re from – the focus shouldn’t be “us” versus “them” at a time such as this. When tragedy strikes, isn’t banding together to provide relief the only human thing to do?
You can help by donating to these organizations providing emergency relief:
| Providing Basic Needs: • American Red Cross • CARE • World Vision • UNICEF USA • International Relief Teams • Save the Children • Catholic Relief Services • Samaritan’s Purse • American Jewish World Services • Clinton Foundation • Yéle Haiti • World Concern • Mercy Corps • Operation Blessing International • UN Central Emegergency Response Fund (CERF) • Mercy & Sharing Providing Shelter: |
Providing Medical Aid: • Direct Relief International • International Medical Corps • Medical Teams International • Doctors Without Borders • Operation USA • MAP International • The International Committee of the Red Cross • World Health Organization • Americares • Project Medishare Providing Food: |
(courtesy of CNN.com)
Please pray for them… they’re a people group that have experienced tremendous hardship, poverty, and loss.
As you know, I’ve been getting bad rashes every single day since I stopped taking Zyrtec 6 days ago. What are the chances that the day I have my Allergists’ appointment is the day no rashes appear? Life sure likes to play some funny games. Luckily I had some photos on hand to bring to the Allergist. Turns out they were unnecessary because the Allergist immediately knew what my problem was and diagnosed me with a common skin condition known as Dermatographia.
Dermatographia occurs when the body’s “mast cells” become sensitive to physical stimulation such as scratching. The histamines in the body start to spread, causing hives all over the body. So any sort of etching into the skin can create these rashes. This is definitely true for me, because hives randomly occur when I carry heavy grocery bags hung on my arms, or if my dog accidentally scratches my leg with her paw. So the more I itch, the more my rashes spread…
The doc asked if I wanted the good news first or the bad news. Of course I said the bad news! Let’s get the somber stuff out of the way please.
The bad news is that he doesn’t know why I have Dermatographia and he doesn’t know when they’ll go away.
The good news is it doesn’t have anything to do with a specific allergy – so it isn’t brought on by food or environment.
I’m a strong believer in a mind-body connection when it comes to diseases and allergies. Even though the doc says my skin rashes have nothing to do with what I’m eating, I still believe that somewhere along the way a trigger of some sort must’ve brought this on. I guess I’ll never know…
His recommendation: that I take Zyrtec regularly for another 1-3 months, which I probably won’t do. He said it’s not bad to take anti-histamines for a long period of time (which I totally don’t believe! do you know what that will do to my liver?).
Here are some Zyrtec complaints:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/rx/zyrtec.html
http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=19835&name=zyrtec
The power of the internet gives us so much freedom – knowledge is at our fingertips… don’t just trust the authorities with your health! Even the professionals don’t know everything. Research research research.
My belief is that my rashes were worse the last several days (after I stopped taking Zyrtec) because I’m going through withdrawal. I’ve experienced withdrawal before from other drugs and usually when you try to wean yourself off something, the symptoms get worse before they get better. Perhaps I’m in the clear now. I’m feeling a lot better today – no rashes in sight.
Oh and about the Master Cleanse – I know I said I’d do it this week, but I can’t get myself to go through with it! The skeptic in me is preventing me from trying it. I’m not sure I believe in the effectiveness of Master Cleanse and don’t want to go through 10 days of torture to find out. The thought of not being able to sit down with my hubby and enjoy a meal together?? No thanks.
Days without Monster: 7
Days without Zyrtec: 7
This is my life without Zyrtec. I’ve been blogging about my rashes for some time now so I didn’t think it was fair that I kept talking about something you had no real visual about. This particular rash is on my neck, but the rashes come and go as they please on all parts of my body – my arms, my legs, my bootay, and even in between my toes. It’s no fun. No fun at all.
Lovely isn’t she? I named her fiona. Haha, I promise I don’t normally have wrinkly chicken skin for a neck. Now that I’m married I finally have health insurance and am seeing an allergist first thing Monday morning. Definitely do not want drugs. Definitely do not want prednisone. If they give me that stuff, it’s going straight into the toilet.
Days without Monster: 3
Days without Zyrtec: 3
It was just one of them days. I stupidly slept at 2:30am last night and got in only 4 hours of sleep. I was debating about yoga, but had a hunch that getting my lazy butt there would make me feel better in the end. So I went. I was drowsy and had a headache (not the way you want to start a class), so I popped in an Advil to remedy the issue. I do that from time to time, especially when I get headaches. They say that an Aspirin a day is actually good for your health, but there are so many health claims out there… you can never be too sure.
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When I signed up online for today’s yoga class, I was pleasantly surprised to find my favorite teacher, Valerie, teaching again! She usually doesn’t teach on Mondays. I’ve been trying to come to class earlier because I’ve found that it starts the class off right – I’m never rushing to get there and it gives me time to adjust to the heat. Even though I got to class 15 minutes before start time, it was already halfway filled and almost every spot in the back row had been taken (I got the last spot, whew!).
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awesome. i had to quit after ending up in urgent care during bikram hah. .-= Lisa-Anne´s last...