Dietitians are food and nutrition educators, and we share our knowledge with all age groups. One of our assignments this spring was to create and teach a lesson to grades 4-6. This assignment was designed to give us exposure to creating lesson plans and delivering a nutrition education session to a target audience. In our 381 class we had two dietitians, one from Vancouver Coastal Health and one from BCDA come and do an education workshop with us. From there we partnered up and made a lesson plan, based on topic ideas given to us from the teachers. On Tuesday May 12th we all spent the day teaching in schools all around Vancouver. Joelle and I taught at Dorothy Lynas on the North Shore. The main focus of our lesson was sustainability and the environmental impact of food. We discussed whole foods that are healthy for the body and good to the planet and we ended with a section on sugary beverages which we tied into sustainable choices. Often sugary beverages come in a lot of packaging, and this is contributes to excess waste. Joelle and I created our lesson plan in time to send it to the supervising dietitians and teachers, in order to receive any feedback they thought necessary before giving the lesson. The dietitians and teachers were happy with the topics we chose which was great to know going into the lesson. Attached here is a copy of the lesson plan we created.
Tag Archives: Nutrition Care
Self Assessment and Learning Experience II: Activities Coordinator – Inpatient Eating Disorders Program
For two years I volunteered as an activities coordinator at the Inpatient Eating Disorders Program at St. Paul’s Hospital. My role was to implement post mealtime anxiety management activities using arts, crafts and games for the patients in the unit. I interacted with a range of clients with diverse needs and I began to learn how to support clients with high levels of anxiety. Each week I would bring a new activity to the unit and we would sit in a group and complete the activity immediately after dinner time, which is a time of high anxiety and stress for these clients. I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to shadow the dietitian on the unit and she allowed me to sit in on one-on-one meetings she had with each patient. This opportunity exposed me to specific medical and nutrition terminology that will be important for me to know and understand in the future. For example, I was able to learn the basics of nutritional support such as the assessment of tube feeding requirements and meal plan modification, since each client has differing needs. Although I still have much to learn in this area, this volunteer work was a good way to start this learning. Shadowing Kara in the Eating Disorders Unit helped me start to think about the nutrition care competencies that I will be working on. Although I am not an expert in any of them yet, I have started to observe these competencies in action, which will help with future learning.
One of the competencies that I have decided to focus on for the 2014/2015 academic year is identifying signs and symptoms of nutrient deficiencies and excesses. The reason I would like to focus on this one is because, although I had a small amount of exposure to this in my volunteering at St. Paul’s, I am not confident in this area and would like more knowledge and practice. I intend to contact the new dietitian on the unit and ask if it would be possible for me to speak with her about this particular competency.
The following competencies were touched on during my volunteering in the Eating Disorders Unit:
Nutrition Care
Obtain and interpret food and nutrient intake data –> I have not mastered this competency, but this volunteer role allowed me to begin the learning process. The nurses and dietitian showed me how the information was stored and briefly discussed how the data was to be interpreted
Develop or modify meal plans
Identify the roles of team members in supporting the implementation of a care plan.
Identify strategies to communicate nutrition care plan with client, inter-professional team and relevant others
Identify necessary changes to nutrition care plan
Site Visit – St Paul’s Hospital
Description
On Wednesday, October 8th a fellow classmate, Laree, and I visited St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver. We spent the afternoon with Sinead Feeney, Clinical RD. We split our time between Sinead and Johnny Wu, the Food Services Supervisor in the kitchen of St. Paul’s.
St. Paul’s Hospital is an acute care, research and teaching hospital. It is located on 1081 Burrard St. in downtown Vancouver and it is home to many programs and services such as HIV/AIDS, mental health, heart and lung services, cardiac care and critical care, to name a few. Sinead is a Clinical Cardiac Dietitian and so works in the cardiac unit of St Paul’s Hospital. When we met with Sinead she sat down with us and explained the work that she does as a Dietitian in an acute setting. As we asked her questions she deflected them back towards us, which I thought was a really excellent way to get us thinking about the profession by using what we have already learned as Dietetics Students. As we went through the series of questions we had, we tried to answer them and Sinead would help us out and also give extra explanations to ensure that we had a thorough understanding of what she does in the hospital.
After chatting with Sinead for about half an hour, we met Johnny, who is the Food Services Supervisor in the hospital kitchen. Johnny was very enthusiastic and helpful and took us on a tour of the entire two-floor kitchen. He was more than happy to answer any questions we had and just as Sinead had been, he was very thorough and informative. Johnny showed us where the food for all the meals is stored and prepped, and he gave us some background on policies and procedures the kitchen staff follow. Johnny also introduced us to other members of the Food Service Team. During this visit we went through an example of a patient menu, which has a variety of foods that the patient from which the patient chooses. The hospital works on a two week rotation, meaning every two weeks the menu starts over again. This is to help ensure that patients receive a variety of different foods. In addition to menu cards the hospital provides comment cards to the patients so they can express their likes and dislikes for different aspects of the menu.
Reflection
In my preparation for the dietetics course at UBC, I shadowed quite a few dietitians in acute, residential, and community settings. I really valued this particular site visit because I had not ever had the opportunity to speak with a Dietitian working in an acute Cardiac setting. I had a mentor a few years ago who was a Dietitian working in an outpatient Cardiac centre, so I feel that this most recent experience has added to my exposure to the profession. Sinead was quite informative and went into a lot of detail about the different roles and responsibilities a clinical Dietitian has. One thing that I am excited for during internship is be able to do some hands-on learning in the field, and I felt that this visit with Sinead really got me thinking about all the roles of a clinical dietitian; things I have not yet learned in my education thus far. Although I am not yet sure what direction I want to go with my career, I do think that Clinical Dietetics appeals to me. The amount of exposure to different areas of healthcare and different healthcare professionals you would have as a Clinical Dietitian interests me, and this visit has made me revisit these thoughts. In our site report we named ten different roles of a Clinical Dietitian, some of which include education, working in an interdisciplinary team, advocacy and helping patients improve their health. These are just a few examples, and these are also many of the reasons I want to be a Dietitian. Education, health and advocacy on behalf of others are just three of the aspects of Dietetics I value, and it is experiences like this site visit that reaffirms my interest in the profession.
In addition to finding things that I am extremely passionate about, this site visit helped me address some things within the program that make me nervous. It was nice to meet a Dietitian in a clinical setting and to talk briefly about internship. While I am extremely excited for the next few years of my education, sometimes it can feel overwhelming. It is helpful to talk to other students and professionals about our career path since everyone has felt nervous and excited at different points during this process.
Although Johnny is not a Dietitian it was quite helpful to talk to him and have him explain the processes that take place within a hospital kitchen. I sat down with a Food Services Dietitian once a few years ago, and this visit with Johnny helped remind me of the different roles and responsibilities that we had discussed back then. Although I am not quite sure if Food Services appeals to me, it is still very important to gain as much exposure as possible to different areas of the profession. I think that, after this site visit, I will seek out more Food Service Dietitians to speak with, as this might help me educate me a bit more on this very important job. It certainly seems like it takes a large amount of organization and leadership skill to run a large hospital kitchen, and this is something I appreciated about Johnn’y s tour. He seemed to have an excellent rapport with the other staff members and he was very friendly and patient with his co-workers, skills that are necessary for a good supervisor.
After visiting St. Paul’s I feel as if I have learned even more about the many areas in which a Dietitian can work. It was nice to get to know more professionals in the field, and it was also nice to get to know another of my classmates. All of these experiences are going to help in my future years of school and internship by allowing me to draw upon them when making future career and education decisions. I look forward to the next opportunity!
Please feel free to read our site report here: