Nancy Polk, RD, LDN

Bachelors Degree: University of Alabama
Additional degrees/certifications: RD, LDN
Internship: Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Area of interest: Clinical- Cardiac, Weight Loss, and Oncology

Current position: I am working currently PRN at Summit Medical Center.

# of years in dietetic practice: 25 years

How has your career evolved as a dietitian? When I first started, the dietitian's job was to supervise the staff providing the diets and the tube feeding. We wrote all of the menus for special diets and checked tray line. We did not have diet manuals just diet sheets. When NDDA came out with their diet manual, we used that. We also mixed our own tube feedings. We made the tube feeding from baby food, raw eggs, cooked cereal, and mashed potatoes. We added fat and carbohydrates as needed, blended it in a huge blender, and then strained it. There were no premixed formulas. There was also no total parenteral nutrition at that time. Now all the formula comes ready to feed and patients can have TPN if they can not tolerate tube feeding.

What is the most important skill set you use in your position? Empathy. After going through hospitalizations with family and friends, I understand what it is like to be on the other side not just the dietitian. Having this knowledge, helps me to better explain diets by offering suggestions to work the diet into their lives.

What do you enjoy most about being a dietitian? I have always enjoyed working with other dietitians and becoming friends with coworkers. I have also always been able to find a job when needed. The hours have been flexible to meet my needs as a mother and wife.

Of all the client/patient encounters that you've had, which one was the most challenging and rewarding? I educated a gentleman on a weight loss diet. The problem was he worked in a fast food restaurant and had to eat there. So, I taught him the better foods to eat. Later that year, he came back to let me know he had lost weight and was able to stick to his diet and eat at the restaurant.

Outside of work, how do you like to spend your time? I spend time reading, especially mysteries. I enjoy cooking not day to day cooking, but new recipes, that I find or have traded with friends. I also love to garden, mostly flowers.