August Member Spotlight: Stacey Hoffman

Briefly tell us about your day-to-day work: I have been at HHS for >24 years, covering mostly trauma/neurosurgery units & rehab; currently still doing some pt care in rehab & Huntington’s disease clinic. The majority of my work is managing my staff of 16 dietitians (inpt & outpt) which includes managing budgets, patient needs, employee satisfaction, collaborating with Food Service and many other things.

Tell us about things you do that you find particularly interesting or motivating: Motivating: getting something you’ve been working on for a long time accomplished! So satisfying! Doing something that makes you feel good is motivating also….doing good for a patient in need or who is really complicated. Interesting: the more complex the wound/burn/injury, the more interesting it is!

What has surprised you about your work? How much time I spend in meetings!!!!! And how much time I spend advocating for the dietitians.

What trends are you seeing in your work? It is getting harder and harder to find staff who want to work in-person or full-time. Hospital budgets are not fun! RD reimbursement is terrible and frustrating and limiting where the RD’s are able to work (from a budget standpoint) and I’m anxious for the day we are paid for our services. BUT, on the positive side, there seems to be more recognition of the dietitian and their role in healthcare….still a ways to go, but better.