The three weeks we spent in FNH 381 provided a wealth of skills and knowledge building in a very short time. Between job shadowing, client counselling, consumer-focused writing, group education sessions, and elementary school nutrition workshops, the course kept us all on our toes with scheduling challenges and learning experiences. We learned a lot from one another in class about various specific counselling practices through our group education sessions. Now that the course is done, we have reviewed our ICDEP learning assessments from the winter, and I was able to extend the deadlines for my original goals – 1) reviewing important dietetics-related subject matter from previous courses, and 2) learning more about dietitians working in public health and policy – so that I can spend time working on those goals this summer before going into 4th year.
One of the most interesting parts of these professional practice courses is the potential to make connections with Registered Dietitians who are practising in various fields, including clinical dietetics, counselling, and writing. I appreciated the opportunity to meet and work with Melissa Baker, who has extensive experience with writing for online nutrition blogs and was able to pass on some important tips to us as we put together an article for the BC Dairy Association website. Her guidance was a crucial part of building a nutrition article geared to consumers, which turned out to be a much trickier task than we had originally expected.
Another valuable part of the course for me was the afternoon that I spent job shadowing Li Jiang in the long term care facility at UBC Hospital. We were lucky enough to have her narrate her tasks to us and explain, beyond the steps and routine of a dietitian in her role, the nuances within the health care team and the details involved in charting and communications. Although two and a half hours may not seem like much compared to the past full year in the dietetics program, the visit served to solidify many concepts that we’d learned in class over the past year. What surprised me most about Li’s role in the hospital was the vast number of factors seemingly unrelated to nutrition that she had to consider when making decisions about patient menus.
Our class got our first taste of nutrition counselling these past few weeks with volunteer clients. While the initial idea of counselling a client for the first time was overwhelming, the experience turned out to be a positive one, and I was able to build a number of new skills. My client was very open, receptive, and communicated his goals clearly. I found that the most difficult part of the process was in the advising (second) session, when I had a list of resources and tips that I was excited to share with my client, and had to be very conscious that I was checking in regularly and not rushing through my ideas.
Finally, we also had the chance to do some nutrition education sessions in elementary school classrooms. My partner and I were paired with a school that specializes in teaching children with learning disabilities, which presented a unique challenge, especially considering that we had been asked to cover the sensitive topic of positive body image. We struggled with making it all the way through our prepared lesson in our morning session with a grade 6/7 class, but on a positive note, this time constraint was in part due to a large amount of enthusiasm from the students which led to a lot of contribution from the class. Also, we were able to overhaul the lesson and make some large adjustments for the later session with a grade 5/6 class, and found that time management and communication of concepts was much easier and much more successful in the second session.
Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I have been able to learn and grow in these past three weeks. To me, this course has really confirmed the idea that hands-on learning involving application of knowledge, and teaching what we know to others, provides a learning experience that is exponentially stronger than we can obtain through lectures and readings. I am certainly moving on from third year with a much stronger sense of confidence in my capacity for work in the field of dietetics, as well as a sense of excitement for what is yet to come!
Click here to have a look at my self-assessment form for FNH 381.