1 Nutrition and DieteticsEmma George As you have just heard my name is Emma and I am a Dietitian from Link Health and community, which is predominantly a community health service provider. Which just means that I work with lots of different types of people in a community setting.. or their regular everyday life setting. This morning I want to share with you a little bit about my journey in becoming a dietitian and some of the work experiences I have had along the way that have shaped the type of Dietitian I have become.
2 Nutritionist vs DietitianQualified Nutritionist Qualified Dietitian Trained in Human nutrition Trained in Human nutrition Additional training in: Clinical nutrition Medical nutrition therapy Food service management But first I thought I would let you know exactly what a dietitian is, as it has been my experience that lots of people aren’t really sure. The terms Dietitian and Nutritionist are often used interchangeably, but they are not actually the same thing. A dietitian is always a nutritionist, but a nutritionist is not always a dietitian. Nutritionists sometimes, but not always have a general qualification in nutrition, where as a dietitian completes 4 years of university, sometimes more and studies human nutrition in great detail. Including how food works in our bodies, what different nutrients or foods do. And how food and nutrition impacts our health. All qualified dietitians are also qualified nutritionists but not the other way around.
3 What does a dietitian do?Dietitians provide food and nutrition information to help people improve their health. Dietitians are trained to: Understand food science Interpret nutrition science Assess people’s nutritional needs Advice on nutrition and diet for general good health or for special needs such as sport of medical conditions Implement and manage nutrition services and programs Teach others Undertake research Develop nutrition communications, nutrition programs and policies Dietitians can use food to improve health and treat or manage diseases like diabetes, malnutrition, obesity, eating disorders, cancer sider effects, gut and liver diseases as well as a number of others. We can also do other things like research different nutrients and impact of nutrition on health, teach, write policy, impact procedures and change the way foods and products are labelled, produced and sold… there is a lot a dietitian can do.
4 What do I do as a dietitian?Three things I talk the most about: Food Feelings Poo and other bodily functions. So what do I do everyday? Well I talk a lot about food - what people are eating and when feelings - why people eat what they eat when they eat it and how it makes them feel and poo… because what goes in has to come out. And if it isn’t coming out correctly, usually a dietitian can help.
5 What do I do as a dietitian?Three things I talk the most about: Food Feelings Poo and other bodily functions. So what do I do everyday? Well I talk a lot about food - what people are eating and when feelings - why people eat what they eat when they eat it and how it makes them feel and poo… because what goes in has to come out. And if it isn’t coming out correctly, usually a dietitian can help.
6 What do I do as a dietitian?Three things I talk the most about: Food Feelings Poo and other bodily functions. So what do I do everyday? Well I talk a lot about food - what people are eating and when feelings - why people eat what they eat when they eat it and how it makes them feel and poo… because what goes in has to come out. And if it isn’t coming out correctly, usually a dietitian can help.
7 What do I do as a dietitian?Three things I talk the most about: Food Feelings Poo and other bodily functions. So what do I do everyday? Well I talk a lot about food - what people are eating and when feelings - why people eat what they eat when they eat it and how it makes them feel and poo… because what goes in has to come out. And if it isn’t coming out correctly, usually a dietitian can help.
8 Where do dietitians work?Dietitians work in a number of different settings including: Patient care Community nutrition and public health Food service and management Consultancy/Private practice Food industry Research and Teaching Sports Other Dietitians work in a wide range of settings… which I have listed up here, including hospitals, private practice, in the community health, for companies like mcdonalds, heinz, woolworths… all of the major food supplier and producers. With sports teams, doing research and in quite different settings, for example at the moment I spend some of my time at work in the marketing and IT departments using my understanding of health to help they way our computer systems store data and how we at Link HC communicate health information.
9 Where have I worked? Dietitians work in a number of different settings including: Patient care Community nutrition and public health Food service and management Consultancy/Private practice Food industry Research and Teaching Sports Other These ones in bold are the areas that I have worked in.
10 How did I become a dietitian?So How did I become a dietitian? Well when I was in year 10 like you guys, I actually had no idea what I wanted to do… so I went and had a chat to my school careers counsellor and we had a chat about what subjects I likes and didn’t like.
11 How did I become a dietitian?So How did I become a dietitian? Well when I was in year 10 like you guys, I actually had no idea what I wanted to do… so I went and had a chat to my school careers counsellor and we had a chat about what subjects I likes and didn’t like.
12 How did I become a dietitian?
13 How did I become a dietitian?General Science People Health & HD At school I loved science, I knew I wanted to work with people and I had started doing HHD and I also loved that… so she suggested that I might be interested in dietetics, teaching or pharmacy.
14 How did I become a dietitian?Health & HD Chemistry Maths Psychology So… pharmacy and dietetics had the highest ENTER score requirements and the most pre-reqs so I covered my bases and did Chem, Maths and English… As school went on I learnt more about what the different professions entailed and decided that pharmacy was not for me, I wanted to be able to journey with people to help them, not just see them once and leave it there… so that left dietetics and teaching…
15 How did I become a dietitian?And once I finished school I was accepted into Deakin’s bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics
16 How did I become a dietitian?Helpful subjects while at school: English (prerequisite) Biology Chemistry Psychology Maths Health and Human Development Now… the course that I did doesn’t exist.. It is offered as a masters instead, but there is still one bachelor currently offered at la trobe… There are a few other courses that promote themselves as dietetics, but these are not accredited courses… so when you are looking at where you might want to go, make sure you check the dietitians assoicaition of Australia’s website for which courses are accredited and which aren’t. While the la trobe course only needs English as a pre-req, it would be helpful to look into doing some science, either biology or chem or both and I would suggest Health and Human development. These are good subjects to do as they do help you through the content of the course at uni. Dietetics is a real blend of science, psych and health – and even though I don’t use the detail of these subjects everyday, the basics that I learnt about how foods, nutrients, and the body work and why still help me when I am thinking about how new foods, different diseases and the other factors that effect health will work when put together. It has also helped me learn how explain complicated concepts, think about things from an evidence base and how just some general problem solving. Dietetics really is a nutrition science, its not just about enjoying good food although you do that too .
17 My Journey since school….So Since leaving school my work experiences have been really varied, while I was at uni I worked at a kabab store and music store from a dietetics perspective was mostly done at university. And even though these weren’t strictly what I thought I would be doing, they still taught me things that I needed for my career, I learnt about food safety and hygiene… what to do and what not to do, I learnt how to talk to people, how to deal with conflict, how to manage my time…. Then at uni
18 Rehab centres, like the Peter James centre, where I not only learnt how to interact with the patients, but also spent time in food service weight food portions, comparing how much people ate in different environments and finding out how this impacted their recovery. I have also had student work experience in local government, looking at food supplies in the eastern suburbs and mapping where people can buy food and the types of food they can buy.
19 But I have also had work experiences that have put me out of my comfort zone. An elective work experience that I did took me to the Back of Bourke… which is pretty much the end of the road, if you drive to Sydney and then turn left and keep driving for another day you get to Bourke… and after Bourke is the desert… until you get to Perth.
20 This work experience really showed me heaps about myself, how I worked, the types of dietetics I wanted to do and the impact that I could have. We worked with a local school, farming communities and the local indigenous community. And I realised just last week while I was on holidays in Uluru, this work experience, which was just something I had to do at the time actually started a passion in me for community health, indigenous health and a love of red dirt. It has actually changed me as a person as well as guided my professional career… pretty ridiculous when you think about the fact that it was just 2 weeks of work experience.
21 My Journey since school….Then I graduated… jobs in dietetics are a little scarese… so take what ever is available…
22 My Journey since school….I had to move away from home for my first job, to Castlemain, which is just near bendigo… but there I learnt lots about myself and really got to consolidate my skills as a dietitian with out the pressure and stress of the big city hospitals.
23 Some of my work experiences have included working in hospitals, I had placement or extended work experience at Box Hill and Maroondah Hospitals, learning how to talk to patients, do dietetic assessments, work with other allied health professionals, nurses, doctors, kitchen staff etc.
24 My Journey since school….While I was in Castlemaine I got engaged… so it was time to move home… and I applied for and got a job for Eastern health
25 My Journey since school….And then a couple of years ago applied for this job at Link in community health, which was the area of dietetics I had originally wanted to work in.
26 My Journey since school….Since working at Link I have also completed my dip ed, so now I also do a little bit of teaching. My role at link is also quite different from what it was when I started… moving into IT, and Marketing as well as dietetics.
27 What have I done as a dietitian?Castlemaine Hospital: Acute hospital Inpatient rehabilitation Community health Group talks Community programs Link Health and Community Outpatients: weight management, diabetes, nutritional adequacy, Support groups Health promotion Mental health Marketing IT support Health Records Eastern Health: Oncology, General Medical and Rapid Assessment Medical Unit, ICU, General Nutrition Coronary Care, Surgical, Orthopeadics Rehabilitation Outpatients Clinics: Type 1 Diabetes, Insulin Pump, PCOS, Gestational Diabetes, Peadiatrics, Movement disorders.
28 What have I done as a dietitian?And lots lots more.
29 Why do I enjoy being a dietitian?Rewarding Interesting Always important/relevant Impact Appreciated Different Challenging Fun Engaging There are lots of reasons I really love being a dietitian… Rewarding Interesting Always important/relevant Impact Appreciated Different Challenging Fun Engaging And you do really have the opportunity to make a difference in peoples lives.
30 Words of Wisdom? If you want it, go for itTake any job – you never know where it might lead, but don’t sell yourself short. All experience is good experience including work experience – volunteer, survey, feed people! Always be nice to your supervisor, you never you who you’ll work with. Contact people in the field – /phone/ask questions
31 More information Dietitian’s Association of Australia Other interesting dietetic themed pages: Thanks, Oh and if you want anymore dietetic information, these are some great websites, I am happy for Judy to give you my address or you can come and have a chat to me after. All the best guys!
32 Any Questions? Work experience is crucial in any career because you need to know what the job is, how it works and what you are going to be doing. And sometimes even though this can be explained, it doesn’t really click until you can see it happening. You guys are so lucky to have this opportunity, while you are still at school. While I was at high school my only work experience was in retail and while this was still important in teaching me some life skills that I now take for granted, like how to talk to people, how to act professionally, how to work effectively and efficiently, it wasn’t until I was in my 3rd year of university that I actually got to see what a dietitian does and test the waters to see if thats what I wanted to do. Work experiences like the ones you are about to have are important because they let you see all kinds of different health professionals working together all at once. To see how all the roles work together, how each job is important from the cleaners, to food service, to the ward assistants, to allied health, to nurses, doctors, admin staff… everyone all doing their own role but together for a common goal. It gives you some insight into the types of jobs that you might like to do, and some that you might not. For example, I am happy to talk about poo all day long, but I don’t ever want to see it… there are a number of roles others have in the hospital where people are ok with this and they remove or clean up patients with bowel trouble, assist patients going to the bathroom and even study bowel actions and they are happy to have that as part of their job, but thankfully I do not. You also get to have an advantage over others also perusing a health career. Work experience opportunities like the one you are about to have are really unique and if you make the most of it, it is something that can give you an advantage in further study as well as in getting a job after.
33 Work experience is crucial in any career because you need to know what the job is, how it works and what you are going to be doing. And sometimes even though this can be explained, it doesn’t really click until you can see it happening. You guys are so lucky to have this opportunity, while you are still at school. While I was at high school my only work experience was in retail and while this was still important in teaching me some life skills that I now take for granted, like how to talk to people, how to act professionally, how to work effectively and efficiently, it wasn’t until I was in my 3rd year of university that I actually got to see what a dietitian does and test the waters to see if thats what I wanted to do. Work experiences like the ones you are about to have are important because they let you see all kinds of different health professionals working together all at once. To see how all the roles work together, how each job is important from the cleaners, to food service, to the ward assistants, to allied health, to nurses, doctors, admin staff… everyone all doing their own role but together for a common goal. It gives you some insight into the types of jobs that you might like to do, and some that you might not. For example, I am happy to talk about poo all day long, but I don’t ever want to see it… there are a number of roles others have in the hospital where people are ok with this and they remove or clean up patients with bowel trouble, assist patients going to the bathroom and even study bowel actions and they are happy to have that as part of their job, but thankfully I do not. You also get to have an advantage over others also perusing a health career. Work experience opportunities like the one you are about to have are really unique and if you make the most of it, it is something that can give you an advantage in further study as well as in getting a job after.
34 Where did I have work experience?Dietitians work in a number of different settings including: Patient care Community nutrition and public health Food service and management Consultancy/Private practice Food industry Research and Teaching Sports Other And these ones now in light blue are the areas that I was lucky enough to do some practical work experience in. These experiences have really shaped my career as a dietitian, showed me the type of dietetics that I wanted to do, and the types that I didn’t. But also about how to be a good dietitian, how to work within the health setting and if I am really honest, some of them have also shaped who I have become as an adult.
35 How did I become a dietitian?Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics at Deakin University 4 year degree Clinical Placement Hospital based Community Placement Project on food security and access Food Service Placement Research project on food intake Elective Placement Indigenous Health Well, I did a course that is probably not that much help to you guys as it no longer exists, however you can apply to do similar courses and the pathway is similar just at a different uni. So my journey was through deakin, who now offer dietetics as a masters, but initially I did my as a bachelor course straight out of high school. It was a 4 year course and across the last 2 years of the course I did a variety of placements that really helped me to understand what dietetics was and what dietetics might look like for me.
36 How did I become a dietitian?Helpful subjects while at school: English (prerequisite) Biology Chemistry Psychology Maths Health and Human Development English is a pre-req (like for most things) When I did the course chem or bio was a pre-reg, but for the under grad course now available this isn’t the case. However these are good subjects to do as they do help you through the content of the course at uni. Dietetics is a real blend of science, psych and health – and even though I don’t use the detail of these subjects everyday, the basics that I learnt about how foods, nutrients, and the body work and why still help me when I am thinking about how new foods, different diseases and the other factors that effect health will work when put together. It has also helped me learn how explain complicated concepts, think about things from an evidence base and how just some general problem solving. Dietetics really is a nutrition science.
37 My work experience, experienceHigh School = Retail only University = placement based Hospitals Rehabilitation Centre Community Health Local Government City and County Experiences My work experience from a dietetics perspective was mostly done at university.
38 Why is work experience important?Exposure Understanding / insight Like and Dislikes Unique experience However if you know what you want to do, or even a vague area field that you might be interested it is good to try and do your work experience in that field if you can. Work experience is crucial in any career because you need to know what the job is, how it works and what you are going to be doing. And sometimes even though this can be explained, it doesn’t really click until you can see it happening. While I was at high school my only work experience was in retail and while this was still important in teaching me some life skills that I now take for granted, like how to talk to people, how to act professionally, how to work effectively and efficiently, it wasn’t until I was in my 3rd year of university that I actually got to see what a dietitian does and test the waters to see if that’s what I wanted to do. Even a really general work experience can give you goo insight into what you like and don’t like, and if you can’t do work experience in that field have a chat to someone who works in the area. If you don’t know someone personally, you can be super brave and give a work place a call and ask the questions. In my experience, most health professionals are lovely and would be more than happy to answer a few questions. Work experiences like the ones you are about to have are important because they let you see all kinds of different health professionals working together all at once. To see how all the roles work together, how each job is important from the cleaners, to food service, to the ward assistants, to allied health, to nurses, doctors, admin staff… everyone all doing their own role but together for a common goal. It gives you some insight into the types of jobs that you might like to do, and some that you might not. For example, I am happy to talk about poo all day long, but I don’t ever want to see it… there are a number of roles others have in the hospital where people are ok with this and they remove or clean up patients with bowel trouble, assist patients going to the bathroom and even study bowel actions and they are happy to have that as part of their job, but thankfully I do not. You also get to have an advantage over others also perusing a health career, lots of health circles are really small, so showing interest like this can really put you ahead.
39 Work your Work ExperienceWatch / Observe even areas you are not sure are for you Talk to people – ask questions, what do they do, where have they worked, what do they like/dislike about it. Try things – talk to clients/patients, taste the food, sit on the beds, use the equipment, volunteer to help with tasks Be polite – health is a small industry Network Find opportunities to volunteer So… what does all of this have to do with your work experience… well, I would have loved to have had this opportunity before uni… so make the most of it. Watch - even the things you aren’t sure you want to do. Observe as many people as you can doing their job, how they do it, how they interact with their patients and each other. As a student I learnt so much from watching other health professionals, not just about their role, but how to be better at what I wanted to do Talk to people - ask them about their jobs, what they do? what the like? What they don’t like? Why they do the things they do. Try things - if you are able to, have a go, use equipment, taste the food, I remember having to feed another student and to be fed, just so I would understand what it was like to be on the other side of the bed. Try some texture modified food… see if a jam scroll with custard still tastes like a jam scroll with custard after it has been pureed and looks like soup. Be polite - the health industry is very small, if you pursue this career path, chances are the people that you meet now will one day be your colleagues. Network - get some references, some insiders to help you down the track Volunteer - put yourself in front with even more work experience by finding ways to volunteer… there are heaps of ways to get involved.. you can assist people with meals, we have volunteers that help people walk dogs and feed cats, who just visit clients to check if they are ok… there is health you can do. The work experience that I have done have been invaluable and I hope and trust that you will have the same experience, just give it all a go, keep your eyes and ears open and just dive in… You have nothing to lose, but lots to gain, both professionally and personally.