Unit rationale, description and aim
Sustainable change in food and health systems requires strong leadership and management. Building on the entrepreneurial skills and experience gained in NUTR601 Entrepreneurial dietetic practice, this unit provides students with the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of leadership and management in dietetic practice. Through critical examination of leadership and management theories, models of service delivery, and application to food and nutrition-related situations, students will be supported to develop leadership and management skills in human resource development and management, budgeting and finance related to projects and services, service delivery and standards of practice, measuring and improving productivity and quality of service, and assessing sustainability and environmental impact of services. Students will be expected to create a plan for a virtual food service and undertake a practice placement to conduct an aspect of a quality management activity. This unit aims to support students to equip themselves with transferable skills in leadership and management that they can apply to a range of settings in dietetic practice.
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.
Critically examine theories and articulate own app...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically examine the attributes required to beco...
Learning Outcome 02
Demonstrate advanced understanding of general and ...
Learning Outcome 03
Apply the principles of quality improvement in die...
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, peer support and assessment
- acknowledges, reflects and understands own values, beliefs, attitudes, biases and assumptions privilege and power, at the individual and systems level, and their influence on practice
- scope of practice and standards of care, codes of conduct
- continuing professional development
- attributes (empathy, flexibility, adaptability, resilience, ethical, respectful, demonstrates integrity honesty, fairness, critical thinker)
- workload and time management, prioritising workload
- excellence of practice
- feedback cycles
- client-centred approach to practice
- digital literacy/technological proficiency
- culturally safe and responsive practice (requiring emotional, spiritual and cultural intelligence)
- active listening, interpersonal and interviewing skills
- collaboration and communication skills with stakeholders
- systematically acquires, evaluates and applies findings into practice
- appropriate decision-making
- critical, proactive problem-solving approach to practice
- reflection of own personal health and wellbeing
- communication skills for conflict resolution
- taking responsibility for own actions
- documenting in accordance with accepted industry standards
- resource, team worker, leader
- understanding and advocating for the role of the dietitian in management, food and nutrition program and service management
This unit requires the completion of 10 days of placement. Content delivery is arranged as required to support these placements and the underpinning theoretical components. This content includes:
Leadership and management in dietetic practice
- theories in leadership and management
- application of theories to program and service development
- service delivery models
- human resource management in diverse environments
- assessing feasibility of programs and services
- risk, incidents and errors, and safety assessment and management for program and service delivery
- technologies and information in program and service planning and delivery
- financial management and budgeting for programs and services
- payment systems and processes
- client services and satisfaction
- quality improvement cycles and audit
- sustainability issues related to programs and services
Project management
- project planning
- writing project proposals
- project management skills
Leadership and management in nutrition management through food services
- menu planning and assessment
- nutritionally sound menus that meet client needs/demands
- safe food that meets client needs/demands
- sustainability in food services
Both professional practice and performance will be directed by the university and the appointed placement supervisor at the host organisation, through a pre-defined and monitored set of criteria which encompass:
- completion of defined project or project element/s, or other defined placement activity
- professional practices/attributes to be demonstrated whilst undertaking the experience
- ability to seek, respond to and provide feedback from supervisors
- overall student performance throughout the placement
Assessment strategy and rationale
Five assessments are sequenced to progressively support students' learning and development of professional competence through authentic assessment.
Assessment 1, enables students to demonstrate critical evaluation of leadership and management theories and their application to dietetic practice.
Assessment 2 requires students to constructively apply their learning and feedback and apply this in a multimedia submission demonstrating communication and understanding and application of dietetic practice management principles to a virtual service.
Assessment 3 Enables students to demonstrate application of management and reporting of quality improvement activities completed during professional practice placement.
Assessment 4 (graded hurdle) is an extension of the professional practice portfolio. In addition to continuing to collect evidence of developing professional competence, students will reflect on the final assessment of placement and articulate a plan for continued development of professional competence. This task is a hurdle to ensure students demonstrate the competency standards required by Dietitians Australia.
Assessment 5 (ungraded hurdle) is the successful of 10 days of professional practice placement. 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.
Completing 100% of placement hours is a requirement to pass this unit. Students are required to submit a medical certificate or statutory declaration for any professional experience placement hours missed. An interim grade of “IP” will be made if 100% attendance at the professional experience placement is not achieved.
Assessment 1: Written assessment task Enables st...
Assessment 1: Written assessment task
Enables students to demonstrate critical evaluation of leadership and management theories and their application to dietetic practice
25%
Assessment 2: Multimedia assessment task Enables...
Assessment 2: Multimedia assessment task
Enables students to demonstrate their ability to apply knowledge and understanding of leadership and management, including project management to design a virtual food and nutrition service
40%
Assessment 3: Written assessment task Enables st...
Assessment 3: Written assessment task
Enables students to demonstrate application of management and reporting of quality improvement activities
30%
Assessment 4: Professional practice portfolio (*G...
Assessment 4: Professional practice portfolio (*Graded Hurdle)
Enables students to gather evidence of their practice, and critically reflect on supervisor’s report of placement
*Graded Hurdle
5%
**Ungraded hurdle Completion of 10 days of place...
**Ungraded hurdle
Completion of 10 days of placement
**Ungraded Hurdle
*If a student has not achieved a mark of ≥ 50% for the graded hurdle, one re-attempt may be offered to allow demonstration of an appropriate level of competency. The offer of one re-submission will only be made if the student has also successfully completed the ungraded professional practice placement hurdle.
**If a student has not successfully completed the ungraded hurdle, additional placement time (up to one third of total placement time) may be offered to allow demonstration of an appropriate level of competency.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
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 consolidation of specialist knowledge and application of business skills through extended examination of theoretical underpinnings of good leadership and management. 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 case studies and role play and then practice placement. 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.