Am I Boring You?

Happy Halloween! Yum look at all those vegetable servings!

I was "viewing" my blog and noticed my recent posts have been on the more educational and informative side.  Sorry if that also means boring.  I've been lead to believe my beginning posts were entertaining and even considered quite funny on the hilarity scale.  Now that I'm working it seems the tone has changed.  Due to this contrast you might be lead to believe that joining the working world sucks any sense of fun and humor out of you.  This is not the case.  There are an embarrassing amount of things that happen to me at work that you might find funny (I can already count on two hands and almost one foot how many times I will look at a baby or a picture and say "Your son is adorable!" and get the reply, "She's a girl...").  The thing is that although I find things funny, I value and take my job more seriously than the need to share stories for laughs.  What I do at work is confidential.  You might think a patient's choice between short ribs or chicken picatta shouldn't be kept secret, but it is.  All patients have the right to 100% confidentiality, from their medical records to their dinner entree. 

On a different note, I had someone ask me what I was doing right now professionally.  I told them I would be starting diet technician training next week but I was currently a hostess at the hospital.  The person was kind of snooty to be honest with you.  They asked why I didn't just work in a restaurant and make tips.  I laughed it off, but it also made me think.

First.  When I was offered this job, my boss told me I would be starting at the bottom and that I was overqualified.  The other hosts I work with don't have degrees in nutrition and haven't finished college.  They still know A LOT about diet orders and could even teach some current nutrition students a thing or two from the things they have absorbed working in a hospital.  

Being in a professional environment and absorbing information and experience can apply to any field.  My mom told me a story about her first job in accounting at a CPA firm.  Her boss was holding a meeting and was putting an employee at the very bottom of the totem pole  responsible for making all photocopies.  This employee asked the boss, "I have a college degree, how is this task putting it to use or furthering my career?"  The boss replied, "You can turn any task into a learning experience.  Read the memos and reports, you can pick up language, terms, and policies.  Absorb everything you can and don't take a task for granted and turn it into a thoughtless process."

This totally applies to me.  I could go on robot mode with patient orders.  I don't.  I learn the diet order abbreviations and know what is allowed in each order.  This might be the responsibility of someone else (the tech/RD) but those are positions I will be doing someday.  Being exposed to it now gives me valuable knowledge.  So no, I won't be a host in a restaurant.  The exposure I have now is far more valuable than tips.

Patients love when the dogs visit!

Second.  I like that I'm called a host.  I like to think that I am the one person in the hospital (besides the therapeutic dogs* maybe, they're THE COOLEST!)  that can help the patient think they are somewhere else.  I like to think that maybe, just maybe, giving patients meal choices can help them think for a second they are sitting at a restaurant table instead of laying in their hospital bed.  I know other hospitals get a diet order (i.e. Cardiac, Renal, Mechanical Soft) and have a set menu already in place with a meal for the patient. I work at a spectacular facility that gives patients choices and these choices can only be made with hosts and hostesses.  

Working as a host in a restaurant might be more comfortable, but for me personally what I'm doing now has much value and purpose.  Working in inpatient, patients come and go.  I usually don't see them for more than a couple of days.  However, I do have my "regulars" like a waitress in a diner would have.  Of course, I would never wish it upon anyone to ever be a "regular" at a hospital.  I'd rather people be healthy and get discharged as soon as possible.  Regulars are patients in the hospital for several days that I build relationships with.  I remember their names, their juice of choice, and what college football game they're watching on Saturday.  Sometimes, I even let them order cheeseburgers or let them have ice cream and apple pie (if their diet allows it, of course).  They brighten my day and I like to think I brighten theirs.  

*Your dog can be a therapeutic dog too!  They are the dogs of volunteers that are friendly mellow dogs.  They are groomed appropriately and visit with patients.  All people that come in contact wear gloves.  

Pumpkin photo by Stephen St. John, National Geographic retrieved on 31 Oct 2012 from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111028-halloween-facts-costumes-history-nation-science/

Therapeutic dog photo retrieved on 31 Oct 2012 from http://www.petanim.com/6399/jlbenton/pet-therapy-pet/