Professional development needs in nutrition and dietetics

Background. Continuing education has long played a role in the maintenance of professional competence of nutrition and dietetics professionals. Due to the lack of published continuing education research in nutrition over the last 15 years, very little is known about the adequacy of continuing education resources for today’s nutrition and dietetics professionals. Objective. To examine the continuing education needs of nutrition and dietetics professionals. Design and Methods. A cross-sectional survey study of nutrition and dietetics professionals who graduated from the University of Texas at Austin Didactic Program in Dietetics and/or Coordinated Program in Dietetics. A survey was constructed and content-validated to assess continuing education needs in specific areas of nutrition. Descriptive statistics was used to report the results. Measures. Demographics, areas of focus in continuing education, continuing education activity preferences, targeted levels of competence in continuing education, and learning needs. Results. 54 surveys were returned. Of those 54, 41 were able to be used for analysis. Most of the participants worked in clinical nutrition (64.7%) and/or in nutrition education (38.2%). 75.6% of participants chose continuing education activities based on convenience and accessibility in their areas of interest. 63.4% of participants reported that their continuing education learning needs were not being met in at least one of their areas of focus in continuing education. Conclusion. Despite the emphasis on continuing education in the nutrition field, most of the participants reported unmet learning needs in some capacity. Further investigation into the adequacy of continuing education resources in nutrition is needed.Nutritional Science

PRACTICE AND APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE BY NUTRITION STUDENTS

Practice and knowledge of upper‐level human nutrition and dietetics students (juniors and seniors, n=96) attending a midwestern university were compared to their comprehension and application of the Scope of Dietetics Practice. The sample consisted of 96 students, primarily (72%) in the 21 – 23 age category; females made up 83% and males comprised the remaining 17% of the sample. In this sample, 70% of the participants reported dietetics as their current major, and 30% stated that their major was human nutrition. Overall, students majoring in human nutrition responded neutrally to the questions concerning comprehension, knowledge, and implementation of the Scope of Dietetics Practice, while participants majoring in dietetics reported better knowledge, comprehension, and implementation of the Scope of Dietetics Practice. However, students majoring in human nutrition reported increased use of nutrition information to diagnose others than were students studying dietetics. In general, participants responded to questions regarding their practice and application of nutrition knowledge to themselves and others as would be expected, though there were differences between the students studying human nutrition and those studying dietetics

Career Motivations and Aspirations of Dietetic Students: Applying the Social Cognitive Career Theory

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the career motivations and aspirations of dietetic students using the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT). The objectives were to identify and quantify 1) the factors that motivate current students to choose dietetics as a career, 2) the future career aspirations of dietetic students, and 3) the way in which dietetic students make career decisions. Methods: This descriptive study utilized the validated Career Aspirations and Motivations of Dietetics Students (CAMDS) survey. Program directors of the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND)-accredited programs shared the CAMDS survey with their students electronically. A resulting convenience sample of n=328 students were enrolled in a didactic program in dietetics, dietetic internship, coordinated program in dietetics, or future education model graduate program. Data was captured regarding demographics, path towards a career in dietetics, motivations and influences to practice as a dietetics professional, and future career aspirations. Descriptive statistics were used to convey study findings. Data were both nominal and ordinal. Results: The majority of participants were female, white, and born after 1980. Motivating factors to pursue dietetics included cooking with family during childhood; a personal interest in nutrition; the influence of a parent or legal guardian; social media; and the opportunity to help others. The preferred employment sectors were clinical dietetics, community dietetics, and private practice. Conclusions: Attention to the career motivations and aspirations of dietetic students is requisite to supporting the growing demand for credentialed dietetics practitioners. The vast majority of current dietetic students are classified as millennials or generation Z; these students have career motivations and aspirations that are distinct from previous generations of dietetic students

Towards a standardized nutrition and dietetics terminology for clinical practice:An Austrian multicenter clinical documentation analysis based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)-Dietetics

Background High quality, continuity and safe interdisciplinary healthcare is essential. Nutrition and dietetics plays an important part within the interdisciplinary team in many health conditions. In order to work more effectively as an interdisciplinary team, a common terminology is needed. This study investigates which categories of the ICF-Dietetics are used in clinical dietetic care records in Austria and which are most relevant to shared language in different medical areas. Method A national multicenter retrospective study was conducted to collect clinical dietetic care documentation reports. The analysis included the “best fit” framework synthesis, and a mapping exercise using the ICF Linking Rules. Medical diagnosis and intervention concepts were excluded from the mapping, since they are not supposed to be classified by the ICF. Results From 100 dietetic records, 307 concepts from 1807 quotations were extracted. Of these, 241 assessment, dietetics diagnosis, goal setting and evaluation concepts were linked to 153 ICF-Dietetics categories. The majority (91.3%) could be mapped to a precise ICF-Dietetics category. The highest number of ICF-Dietetics categories was found in the medical area of diabetes and metabolism and belonged to the ICF component Body Function, while very few categories were used from the component Participation and Environmental Factors. Conclusions The integration of the ICF-Dietetics in nutrition and dietetic care process is possible. Moreover, it could be considered as a conceptual framework for interdisciplinary nutrition and dietetics care. However, a successful implementation of the ICF-Dietetics in clinical practice requires a paradigm shift from medical diagnosis-focused health care to a holistic perspective of functioning with more attention on Participation and Environmental Factors.(VLID)489878

Decade of Medicare : The contribution of private practice dietitians to chronic disease management and diabetes group services

Aim: To review changes in utilisation of dietetics services through the Medicare Chronic Disease Management program over the last decade and describe patient uptake in 2013. Methods: Dietetics service data were extracted from published Medicare statistics for the periods (i) January 2004 to December 2013 and (ii) January to December 2013. Data comprised individual dietetics services by state and patient demography, and group services data for provider professions regarding type 2 diabetes: dietitians, diabetes educators and exercise physiologists. t-test was used to investigate the association of dietetics' individual service utilisation and workforce statistics. Results: Individual dietetics Chronic Disease Management consultations in private practice have increased annually since 2004. Dietetics has remained the third largest provider. In 2013, a total of 302910 individual consultations were conducted; 7% of allied health consultations. Likewise, individual services for Indigenous Australians increased since 2008. Utilisation of group services for type 2 diabetes comprised <2% of dietetics services. Dietitians provided more group services than diabetes educators but considerably fewer than exercise physiologists. Middle-aged and older patients were common, with highest uptake by those aged 55-74 years. Overall, total and per capita utilisation rates were considerably higher in NSW, Victoria and Queensland compared to less populous states, although this disparity has reduced since 2010. Conclusions: As 10 years has elapsed since the program's inception, further evaluation of the policy is needed to examine large variations in dietetics' Chronic Disease Management uptake by state and territory in both individual and group services. © 2015 Dietitians Association of Australia

Integrating service-learning into dietetics and nutrition education

This article presents a review of the service-learning literature as a foundation for a discussion on integrating service-learning into dietetics and nutrition education. The purposes of this review are to (1) define service-learning, (2) discuss how service-learning can enhance dietetics and nutrition education programs, (3) explain principles and best practices fur integrating service-learning into dietetics and nutrition curricula, and ( 4) outline practical tips for orienting students for this experience and establishing sites for service-learning activities. The information shared has pedagogical implications and is transferable to any dietetics and nutrition education program

Simulation in Dietetics Education: A Scoping Review of the Literature

There are not enough dietetic internship spots to meet the growing rate of DPD graduates. Dietetics educators are looking into different alternatives to provide clinical experience and one solution is the use of simulation experiences. Simulation use has been common in fields such as medicine and nursing, but the extent of its use in dietetics is currently unknown. The purpose of this scoping review was to assess any literature available on the topic of the use of simulation in dietetics education over the last ten years. A systematic literature search was conducted across ten different academic databases. Twelve articles were included in the final analysis. The results show that standardized patients are the most utilized simulation type in dietetics education, with communication and interviewing skills being the most investigated outcome. It was also found that outcomes in included studies improved with simulation use. Future research could focus on developing specific validated tools to assess interested outcomes in dietetics students and also in how simulation use could improve the development of nutrition focused physical exam (NFPE) skills in dietetics students

Dietetic students\u27 lived experience working with preceptors: a phenomenology

The majority of the research conducted on the preceptor model has focused on Allied Health professions other than dietetics. This phenomenological study sought to understand the preceptor experience in dietetics education as revealed by the individuals who had the experience. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the preceptor experience from the perspective of dietetic education graduates in order to understand the impact of the preceptor experience component of the educational process on the professional growth of dietetics education graduates. The August 2016 ACEND Update reveals no significant progress in the match rate for applicants into supervised practice experiences (Appendix A). The match rate has decreased from 52% in 2011 to 49% in 2015. Efforts have resulted in the number of available openings for supervised practice in dietetic internships increasing by 15.6% since 2004, but the number of applicants has skyrocketed by a disproportional 112.5% since 2001 (Gulotta, 2016). The preceptor shortage in dietetics is a significant concern for preparing future dietetics professionals. Through narrative inquiry, six key themes emerged that highlighted the unparalleled experience provided by the preceptor model in dietetics education