Pediatric Nutrition

Biography

Biography: Mary Sowa

Abstract

Clinical Nutrition and Lactation Services at CHOC Children’s, Orange, California, implemented a pediatric registered dietitian (RD) residency program in 2013 to provide training for dietitians new to pediatric nutrition. The program has been extended from 16 to 18 weeks and is off ered twice yearly. To date we have held six sessions. Residency rotations include a variety of specialty areas in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Th e outpatient areas include: Gastroenterology, Diabetes, Pulmonary and Cystic Fibrosis, Ketogenic and Metabolics. Th e inpatient areas include: Medical/Surgical, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant and Intensive Care Units (Pediatric, Cardiac and Neonatal). Curriculum for each specialty area includes text and/or journal references, a slide presentation providing an overview of the area, and a pretest to assess baseline knowledge. During each rotation, the RD resident works alongside the preceptor and is given opportunities to provide medical nutrition therapy with increasing autonomy. Each specialty rotation ends with a post-test or case study and monthly evaluations are used to review feedback from each preceptor. To further assess competence and autonomy, staff relief is used throughout the program. In addition, the resident completes a project for the department. Our experience shows a pediatric RD residency program is beneficial to both the hospital and the dietetics profession. Th e organization has been able to train and evaluate an individual in the clinical setting before potentially hiring them for an internal candidate. Funding for the residency was obtained through a variety of sources who had donated to the CHOC Children’s Foundation.