Christina Germann's Career Portfolio

• Pediatrics

Preceptor: Sara Fife, RD

Location: OHSU Child Development Rehab Center (CDRC)

For this rotation, I worked with Sarah in the clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as we had office days Wednesday and Fridays. In the clinic we would see anywhere from 4-7 patients in a day, spending about thirty to sixty minutes or more in an appointment. On office days, we would chart on those appointments, read research articles and chart review for the next clinic day.

This rotation gave me an opportunity to truly work with a population I never would have been able to experience at the VA. The children that we treated had a variety of issues from cleft palate to Down's Syndrome to prematurity to just plain "picky eating"/feeding difficulty. I was blessed to work with someone who is very knowledgeable and up to date with the field of dietetics.

While working at the CDRC I was able to be a part of the feeding team, which included a speech language pathologist (SLP), MD, dietitian, and social worker amongst others. It was a unique experience as the whole team would go into the clinic room to talk with the family together. I was able to better understand what the role is of each of these team members. I was especially excited to see the SLP conduct a swallow study, as well as see the SLP conduct a feeding clinic watching "picky eaters" explore food. One day during the rotation I took part in the Journal club, as we read and discussed a research article on "picky eaters."

I was always amazed at the outcomes of these children and their families. Despite the challenges they faced, such as physical, emotional and monetarily, they were (almost) all happy, loving families. No matter how bad they looked in the chart, they never seemed that bad in person. I only wish I was able to work in this rotation a bit longer to get more exposure to the pediatric population. 

The following file is an example of a chart note written on a child with Down's Syndrome: