XNH348 Medical Nutrition Therapy Counselling and Practice 3

Unit Outline: Semester 2 2024, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

This unit follows on from XNB346 (pre-requisite) and is run concurrently with XNB347 (co-requisite). These units will extend your application of the nutrition care process and further develop your clinical reasoning skills to prioritise nutrition care in increasingly complex clinical cases. Through the development of your written and verbal communication skills, this unit will enable you to translate technical information into practical advice to patients and communicate this with members of a multidisciplinary team.

The opportunity to experience some practice based activity will assist you in familiarising yourself with the nature and operation of clinical and healthcare settings which may include hospitals and nursing homes, private practice, foodservice and community public health facilities.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Collect and interpret relevant information from a variety of sources to inform holistic client-centred care across a range of complex medical conditions across a range of unpredictable situations [XN43, XN45 CLO-1,2]
2. Apply appropriate communication and counselling skills to, explain the diet-disease relationship in complex medical cases and effectively negotiate client centred nutrition interventions based on best practice research and current clinical recommendations. [XN43, XN45 CLO-3]
3. Apply clinical reasoning skills to design, implement and evaluate evidence based individualised nutrition interventions (therapeutic diets) and translate into socially and culturally appropriate clinical nutrition and practical food-based or therapeutic recommendations. [XN43, XN45 CLO-2,3]
4. Demonstrate academic and professional core skills including communication, critique, reflection, ethical practice and critical cultural consciousness [XN43, XN45 CLO-4]

Content

Learning Approaches

Your learning in this unit will be facilitated by both on campus practical  activities and online lecture material. You will be expected to engage with this online content prior to weekly on campus sessions. The detail of which will be communicated to you on the Canvas site. The on campus sessions will include food laboratories, simulation activities, site visits and observations and clinical case studies. The quality of your learning within this unit will be dependent upon your engagement with the content and its application in the experiential sessions. Your learning from this unit will contribute to the development of your professional practice.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

In each experiential activity you will be provided with feedback from your peers and academic staff. Each week you will be required to reflect on your learning and this will be shared with the group. Your tutor will also provide comment on these reflections. Online quizzes will provide an opportunity for you to gauge your understanding of the content.

Throughout the semester you will complete two problem-solving tasks (clinical case studies) following the Nutrition Care Process. Feedback will be provided for the first case study which will inform you for your preparation for case study 2. This summative feedback alongside formative feedback on activities undertaken in tutorials will prepare students for the end of semester practical examination.

Assessment

Overview

Assessment information included on Canvas provides details of tasks for completion and the criteria to ensure all aspects are completed. Students are encouraged to contact the tutor or unit co-ordinator with any questions or concerns about the assessment items.

Formative assessment will be provided as part of problem based learning and clinical simulation will identify areas needing improvement prior to the completion of the final assessment.

Threshold Assessment Conditions
In this unit, for you to be eligible to receive a passing grade, threshold assessment conditions apply. If you do not achieve the pass level for an assessment task you are able to make one resubmission of this work for the minimum pass level, only when their achieved mark/grade is within 10% (or 1 grade) of the pass level for the assessment item. You are advised to seek feedback on your submission from the unit coordinator prior to resubmission.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Case Study

You will build on the case study portfolio commenced in XNB346 and will apply the nutrition care process to two increasingly complex medical case studies drawn from a variety of social and cultural contexts to plan and evaluate holistic, evidence based interventions including practical food based advice. This will include the modification of recipes. For some medical conditions there will be a focus on application to clients from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Assessment: Examination (Practical)

You will undertake a practical examination to assess key clinical skills required for professional practice in dietetics. This examination will involve interpretation of clinical information, nutrition diagnoses and the development of appropriate nutrition care plans. This examination will consolidate your knowledge and application of the nutrition care process and skills in critical thinking and clinical reasoning under examination conditions.

Threshold Assessment:

This assessment task needs to be satisfactorily completed to pass this unit.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Resource Materials

Prescribed text(s)

Holli, B. and Beto, J. (2017). Communication and education skills for dietetics professionals (7th edition). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott-Williams & Wilkins.

Mahan, L.K., and Raymond, J.L. (Editors). (2020). Krause's food and the nutrition care process (15th edition). St Louis, MO Elsevier/Saunders.

Stewart, R. (Editor). (2020). Handbook of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics (6th edition). ISBN: 9780648588788

Recommended text(s)

Escott-Stump Nutrition and Diagnosis-related Care (8th edition). Lippincott

Risk Assessment Statement

As noted above, assessment for this unit will involve a workplace-based assignment. You are expected to be aware of and abide by the health and safety requirements of the workplace. You are also expected to undergo any induction or other training provided in the workplace for employees or visitors to the workplace as appropriate. You will be required to meet mandatory requirements including those for vaccination and suitability for working with special groups, please see the Workplace Integrated Learning website for further details.

This unit will involve workshop classes that will be held in a food laboratory area. You will be required to attend the induction session at the commencement of the semester where the safety precautions to be observed while working in the laboratory will be outlined. You are required to read the laboratory safety manual and sign the form indicating that you have read and understood the material contained in the manual. You are required to wear the prescribed safety and hygiene clothing at all lab-based sessions. For the purposes of this requirement, you must wear safe flat, closed in footwear, a long-sleeved chef's jacket, and protective headwear a hair net. Hair nets will be provided in class.

In addition, substantial computer-based work will be required.