Program Outline
The University of Virginia Nutrition Support Traineeship is a unique
opportunity to achieve a higher level of practice in
adult nutrition support. The one-week clinical
experience is designed to provide state-of-the-art, evidence-based
information, in a practical, hands-on setting. The focus of the program
is on the adult patient who requires enteral and/or parenteral
nutrition support in the acute care setting, but includes planning for
the transition home on nutrition support. Participants are
on-site for five days, and the traineeship is limited to 4-5 people at
a time in order to allow individual attention. Experiences
include time spent discussing nutrition support consults, participating
in nutrition team rounds, review of syllabus modules by way of lecture
format, case studies, small group discussions, participation in Journal
Club, and ample time to answer questions.
All trainees receive a comprehensive UVA Adult Nutrition Support
Traineeship manual that addresses nutrition assessment, monitoring,
critical care nutrition, enteral and parenteral nutrition, fluid,
electrolytes, acid-base, interpreting/evaluating medical research, and
more. The modules are fully referenced, based on current
evidence-based literature, and provide a template for education at the
bedside (See Syllabus Outline). The core modules are sent to
participants before they arrive, so they have a chance to read in
advance and start to formulate questions before the week begins.
A survey is sent to each trainee prior to starting their session, so that we can become familiar with their individual experience level, work setting, etc. While it is not possible to cover all topics during the week, we do use these surveys to plan the traineeship schedule and try to meet individual goals as best we can (provided there is adequate time during the week and that the topics are within the scope of our experience here at UVA). If you have questions as to whether a certain topic (or topics) will/can be covered during the traineeship, please contact us prior to registering. We will be happy to answer any questions that you have.
Trainees may choose to attend lectures of interest that occur within
the Health System during their traineeship week, have additional
discussions about specific topics (hepatic, renal, critical care, GI,
electrolytes, etc), brainstorming sessions about specific "clinical
conundrums", or discuss specific challenges encountered at outside
facilities. Experiences such as a PubMed class at our excellent
Health Science Library, or observation of GI and/or modified barium
swallow procedures are just a few examples of electives that may be
available during the traineeship week.
A research article is critically evaluated and reviewed during our
monthly journal club. Methods for critically evaluating research
are discussed, as well as "tricks of the trade" for literature review,
and staying up to date. In addition, we will discuss how current
research could be translated into practice at the participant's home
facility. Experiences with nursing, pharmacists, physicians,
and speech pathologists are all part of the traineeship
experience.
Admission Criteria
The Traineeship is for clinical practitioners who work in nutrition
support, and are interested in expanding their practice horizons and
expertise. There are no absolute entry criteria except enthusiasm
for nutrition support, and a thirst for knowledge, but practitioners
should have 1-2 years of clinical experience that includes working with
nutrition support patients to get maximum benefit from the
experience.
Nutrition Support Traineeship Location/Setting Program Overview Session Calendar
Faculty Core Values Additional Info Traineeship Manual Contact Us
