The College of Applied Science and Technology’s “A Day in the Life of a CAST Alum” series is designed to shed some light on how CAST alumni spend their days. Our alumni will tell you that every day is different, and this series aims to peek into an alum’s world.
Nathan Schober ’11, M.S. ’13, is the lead clinical dietitian at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Newnan, Georgia. Schober has two bachelor’s degrees, one in exercise science and one in food, nutrition, and dietetics. He moved to Georgia after completing his master’s degree in dietetics. He is now married to Kirsten (Larson) Schober ’11, a College of Education alum, and they have a boxer, Rocky.
Nathan Schober specializes in cancer nutrition and also nutrition support (IV nutrition and tube feeding) for patients who are no longer able to feed themselves through traditional means. He works with both inpatients and outpatient consultations as part of an integrative team.
6–7 a.m.: Wake up and take my dog, Rocky, on a walk before work.
7 a.m.: Arrive at work. Send out our dietitian coverage schedule for the eight dietitians that cover the 15 different medical oncologists.
7:15–8:30 a.m.: Prepare for rounds, look at patient records, order labs, make phone calls to the doctors.
8:30–9 a.m.: Daily safety call meeting where all the leaders from the hospital come together to report events that could have or did impact patient safety from the previous day.
9 a.m.: Lead the dietitian daily alignment with our nine dietitians, discuss hospital announcements, scheduling issues, discuss a patient safety event, and any “wins” for the department such as a dietitian that received a good compliment from a patient on a survey.
9:30 a.m.: Intensive care unit (ICU) rounds, participate in multidisciplinary rounds with ICU doctor, nurse practitioner, bedside nurse, repertory therapy, pastoral care, pharmacy, and I represent the dietitian, providing recommendations and education to patients regarding intensive care nutrition.
11 a.m.: Intermediate care unit (IMCU) rounds, participate in multidisciplinary rounds and interventions for patients on this floor as well.
12 p.m.: Participate in total parenteral nutrition (TPN) rounds with attending doctor. This is for that patients on IV nutrition. We review records, review labs, and change IV nutrition composition based on labs and make recommendations for plan of care to the hospitalist taking care of the patient.
1 p.m.: Input TPN orders into medical record, call and review with pharmacist that is compounding TPN to confirm orders are correct and no problems with formulation.
1–1:30 p.m.: Lunch
1:30–3:30 p.m.: Go back to floors to see new patients just admitted that need nutrition consults, follow up on patients discharging on IV nutrition and providing orders to home health agencies, and place Dobhoff (small feeding tubes placed through the nose into the stomach or small intestine) for patients that need it for all the floors in the hospital.
3:30–4:30 p.m.: Various meetings with providers, process improvement, changes in process, teaching a class, helping to cover the outpatient clinic, or working with the gastroenterology doctors to help determine if IV nutrition or feeding tubes are needed for patients that are not admitted to hospital.
4:30–5 p.m.: Place last-minute orders, ensure orders are correct for next day, call patients that are at home that have called with questions, and chart all the activities that have happened that day.
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