Today was my last day at clinical with the southcentral foundation. We had two interesting meetings in the morning, one was a routine one where nurse managers met to discuss upcoming schedule coverage and news throughout their clinics, and the second one was a quarterly education meeting involving three speakers. One was an MD PhD that discussing a gene mutation in arctic people. They don’t have a specific enzyme to convert fat into energy. He gave an overview of how important it is for healthcare providers to acknowledge this and how to best care for their patients by monitoring their food intake and knowing the symptoms of this condition.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/inuit-infant-mortality-alaska-gene-research-1.3844052
The next speaker discussed the difference between service dogs and emotional support dogs. People who try and get their pet registered as a support dog make it a lot harder for people that actually need service animals for conditions such as being blind and losing the ability to identify their blood glucose. His main point of his talk was to get healthcare providers and practitioners to not just write everyone who asks for a doctor’s note for their animal to live with them. Service dogs are highly trained and are extremely expensive (up to 15,000$) and save lives all the time. Don’t just say you need a support dog so you can get the apartment you want. Then the last speaker was a specialist in rheumatology and she taught us how to do a thorough joint workup for patients and how to differentiate between different types of arthritis. She also provided the referral checklist needed for appointments and what labs and treatment regimens were available, especially in this native population where arthritis is very prevalent.
I was lucky to have been able to attend this presentation! I really enjoyed it and learned about things I haven’t given much thought to before. My nurse was wonderful on Thursday as well, she answered all of my questions and made it a very comfortable day for me. I learned about all the benefits of working at a foundation such as this, such as PTO, the wellness center, and loan forgiveness.
I enjoyed being at clinicals here in Anchorage, it was amazing to learn about the Nuka healthcare system and to get to know locals and the people at the foundation. I’d love to try and work here as a nurse some day and do different aspects of care like management, public health, and community out in the villages.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/inuit-infant-mortality-alaska-gene-research-1.3844052
The next speaker discussed the difference between service dogs and emotional support dogs. People who try and get their pet registered as a support dog make it a lot harder for people that actually need service animals for conditions such as being blind and losing the ability to identify their blood glucose. His main point of his talk was to get healthcare providers and practitioners to not just write everyone who asks for a doctor’s note for their animal to live with them. Service dogs are highly trained and are extremely expensive (up to 15,000$) and save lives all the time. Don’t just say you need a support dog so you can get the apartment you want. Then the last speaker was a specialist in rheumatology and she taught us how to do a thorough joint workup for patients and how to differentiate between different types of arthritis. She also provided the referral checklist needed for appointments and what labs and treatment regimens were available, especially in this native population where arthritis is very prevalent.
I was lucky to have been able to attend this presentation! I really enjoyed it and learned about things I haven’t given much thought to before. My nurse was wonderful on Thursday as well, she answered all of my questions and made it a very comfortable day for me. I learned about all the benefits of working at a foundation such as this, such as PTO, the wellness center, and loan forgiveness.
I enjoyed being at clinicals here in Anchorage, it was amazing to learn about the Nuka healthcare system and to get to know locals and the people at the foundation. I’d love to try and work here as a nurse some day and do different aspects of care like management, public health, and community out in the villages.