Unit rationale, description and aim
Dietetic practice evolves as evidence about the relationships between food, nutrition, health and individuals and communities is more fully understood. Through exploring contemporary topics and settings in dietetic practice, students will be able to build a deep understanding of issues and develop potential solutions that result in improved health. Students will be assisted to develop an ethical, culturally sensitive, and safe approach to practice as they explore dietetic practice in subgroups within the population, and in the diverse settings where dietetic practice is undertaken. Students will be expected to understand their role within services that aim to improve people's health, well-being, functional status and disease, and the broader public health system. This unit aims to help students ethically, sensitively, and professionally apply their foundation food and nutrition science knowledge and skills through dietetic practice and provide a framework to respond to changing dietetic practice and emerging issues.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Evaluate the scientific evidence related to contem...
Learning Outcome 01
Apply best practice to a range of client setting s...
Learning Outcome 02
Translate the principles of ethical, culturally se...
Learning Outcome 03
Demonstrate the development of a professional, cri...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
This unit includes topics related to the development and demonstration of professional dietetic practice and competence according to the Accreditation Standards of Dietitians Australia. These are described under the heading ‘Building professional dietetic practice’ in each unit outline and build on topics delivered synchronously and progressively throughout the degree. Those in bold reflect ‘new’ topics addressed in this unit. Students will have opportunities for collecting evidence of competence in these, and in other areas (italics).
Building professional dietetic practice
- reflection and evaluation of practice
- acknowledges, reflects and understands own values, beliefs, attitudes, biases and assumptions and their influence on practice
- scope of practice and standards of care, codes of conduct
- culturally safe and responsive practice (requiring emotional, spiritual, and cultural intelligence)
- continuing professional development
- attributes (empathy, flexibility, adaptability, resilience, ethical, respectful, demonstrates integrity, honesty, fairness, critical thinker)
- understanding and advocating for the role of the dietitian in health care teams
Terminology in dietetic practice and the MDP
- Accredited Practising Dietitian
- Health care services and systems (including the journey from admission to discharge and beyond in health care services), and the role of dietetic practice
- Settings for dietetic practice
- Ethical dietetic practice
- Commitment to excellence of practice
- Culturally safe dietetic practice
- Record keeping
- Informatics
- Telehealth
- Communication media
Problem solving approach to practice
Workload and time management, prioritising workload
Contemporary topics
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait islander Peoples' health and nutritional status, ways of sharing stories about food and nutrition-related health
- Culturally and linguistically diverse groups, their health and nutritional status, ‘lost in translation' and working with interpreters
- Sustainability considerations from paddock to plate and the interplay between these and psychosocial factors affecting consumption and nutrition
- Optimal health and normal nutrition
- Prevention and disease management
- Nutrigenomics
- Sports and performance nutrition
- Paediatrics
- Aged care/geriatrics
- Mental health and positive eating behaviours
- Disability and the NDIS
Assessment strategy and rationale
Four assessment tasks are sequenced to progressively support students' learning and development of professional competence through authentic assessment.
Assessment task 1 (graded hurdle), a series of case studies on contemporary dietetic practice theory and application. These case studies allow students to progress their professional competence from pre-novice to novice whilst allowing assessment of students’ developing knowledge and understanding. This task is a hurdle as it is the only task students can demonstrate an appropriate level of competency in contemporary dietetic practice theory and application.
Assessment task 2 requires students to constructively apply their learning and feedback to apply theoretical knowledge. This task provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to examine the role of evidence-based, ethical dietetic practice in health systems.
Assessment task 3 extends students’ theoretical understanding, by requiring students to consider how they will practice with cultural safety.
Assessment task 4 (graded hurdle), provides students with the opportunity to commence development of their professional practice portfolio. Students will commence collection of evidence of developing professional competence. This task is a hurdle to ensure students demonstrate the competency standards required by Dietitians Australia.
Overview of assessments
To pass the unit, students must demonstrate that they have achieved each learning outcome, passed any graded or ungraded hurdle tasks, and obtain a total mark of 50% in the unit as the minimum standard.
Assessment 1 - Case studies (*Graded Hurdle) Ena...
Assessment 1 - Case studies (*Graded Hurdle)
Enables students to demonstrate their ability to interpret and apply evidence related to dietetic practice throughout semester.
*Graded Hurdle
35%
Assessment 2 - Written assessment task Enables s...
Assessment 2 - Written assessment task
Enables students to demonstrate their ability to examine the role of evidence-based, ethical dietetic practice in health systems.
25%
Assessment 3 - Written assessment task Enables ...
Assessment 3 - Written assessment task
Enables students to demonstrate their ability to approach dietetic practice with cultural safety.
35%
Assessment 4 - Professional practice portfolio (*...
Assessment 4 - Professional practice portfolio (*Graded Hurdle)
Enables students to gather evidence to demonstrate competence to practice .
*Graded Hurdle
5%
*If a student has not achieved a mark of ≥ 50% for the graded hurdles, one re-attempt may be offered for each to allow demonstration of competency at the level of novice.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
The unit content will be delivered over 12 weeks.
The learning and teaching strategy adopted aligns with the sequencing of the learning outcomes and consists of three phases that are designed to provide students with a developmental learning experience. The unit begins with approaches designed to support acquisition of specialist knowledge needed to understand the role of a dietetic practice within settings and services for promoting health and treating disease, and the especially in diverse cultural domains and in contemporary areas of practice. The approaches used to facilitate students’ learning include online learning modules and readings. The unit then builds on this theoretical knowledge and assists students to develop understanding and then application through practical skills development first through applied tutorials and then case studies and role play. Overall, the approaches used in this unit have a constructively aligned developmental sequence designed to progressively, and logically, support students learning in ways that maximise the perceived (and actual) relevance and value of each stage. As an overarching strategy, this is expected to engender high levels of engagement, efficiency, and effectiveness in students’ study behaviours, and to maximise their learning achievements. This strategy and approaches will allow students to meet the aim, learning outcomes and graduate attributes of the unit. Learning and teaching approaches will reflect respect for the individual as an independent learner. Students will be expected to take responsibility for their learning and to participate actively in learning activities.