Reflection Statement (Nutr 407) This class, Medical Nutrition Therapy Lab, enhanced my critical thinking skills in a great matter. Reading the selected case studies and researching on certain diseases, learning the causes, medical treatments, answering some questions and finally discussing the case in the classroom was a great way to learn to think critically and use trusted sources to come up with a nutrition plan for the patient. I learned how to interpret medical terms and how to look up the functions and side effects of medications related to the selected case studies. In addition, I was educated on how to interpret lab values that are nutrition related and perform a physical assessment of the patient when needed. I learned that it is very important to care for each patient uniquely, learn about the medications they are taking and possible food drug interactions. Working on the nutrition care plan documents, I was able to enhance my skills on how to document all the information related to patient’s nutrition, calculate their energy, fluid and protein needs based on their appropriate weight (ideal body weight, usual body weight, current weight). In addition, I utilized the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Nutrition Terminology Reference online manual to look up appropriate nutrition diagnoses, intervention including measurable goals and monitoring and evaluation for each disease. Having an expert in the field as our professor truly made an impact on me and made me realize how knowledgeable and respected a registered dietitian is and must be. I learned about the ethical
Reflection Statement (Nutr 407)This class, Medical Nutrition
Therapy Lab, enhanced my critical thinking skills in a great
matter. Reading the selected case studies and researching on
certain diseases, learning the causes, medical treatments,
answering some questions and finally discussing the case in the
classroom was a great way to learn to think critically and use
trusted sources to come up with a nutrition plan for the patient. I
learned how to interpret medical terms and how to look up the
functions and side effects of medications related to the selected
case studies. In addition, I was educated on how to interpret lab
values that are nutrition related and perform a physical assessment
of the patient when needed. I learned that it is very important to
care for each patient uniquely, learn about the medications they
are taking and possible food drug interactions. Working on the
nutrition care plan documents, I was able to enhance my skills on
how to document all the information related to patients nutrition,
calculate their energy, fluid and protein needs based on their
appropriate weight (ideal body weight, usual body weight, current
weight). In addition, I utilized the Academy of Nutrition and
Dietetics Nutrition Terminology Reference online manual to look up
appropriate nutrition diagnoses, intervention including measurable
goals and monitoring and evaluation for each disease.Having an
expert in the field as our professor truly made an impact on me and
made me realize how knowledgeable and respected a registered
dietitian is and must be. I learned about the ethical decision
making when it comes down to feeding or not feeding the patient and
learned about considering the patients cultural values when making
such sensitive decisions. My favorite take away from this class was
the individual project on working with a client with type II
diabetes and hypertension. I created an ncp note, did research on
the complications and related medications and used a nutrient
analysis program to create a healthy meal plan for my client. This
project was very educational and the information I learned will
always stay with me. The information and experience I gained in
this class will help me to become more educated and use critical
thining when making sensitive decisions for my clients.
