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Reflection Paper On Dietitians

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Volunteering in the Dietetics Department in hospital setting is an invaluable experience for me. I gained experiences on nutrition assessment and nutrition education material development. By observing the work of dietitians in nutrition counselling and health education class, I learn more about the roles and responsibilities of dietitians, and understand that healthcare provision could only be achieved by collaborations among members of the healthcare team.
In the beginning of the internship, I work closely with the dietetic assistants (known as Dietetics Patient Care Assistants). They perform nutrition assessment for the in-patients in ward and out-patients in the dietetics out-patient clinic. After training, I started to carry out nutrition …show more content…

I learn that different dietitians have their own style of communication, an encouraging and supportive tone, or clear instructions to patients with poor compliance. From these experiences, I understand the major goal of dietitians in hospitals - to provide patients with information they need for lifestyle modifications and resolving their nutritional problems caused by their health conditions, illness or treatment side-effects. What I learn from lessons, is that dietitians prescribe meal plan and dietary restrictions to patients, while in reality, dietitians try to fit the dietary changes into patient’s current lifestyle, changing their original diet as little as possible, along with negotiation and encouragement for patients to improve their health. Dietitians, at the same time, answer patient’s queries and relieve their anxiety on the many nutritional claims they have heard. Different topics of health education classes are in different style, while the one for newly diagnosed diabetes patient is the most intriguing to me. The aim of the class is to let the patient and their caregiver to understand the diagnosis, as well as learning to manage their glucose level and disease progression. Dietitian serves as an educator, to teach patients how to control their glucose level by diet and exercise, while checking their understanding by looking at their responses to

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