The best way to show what a dietitian does all day is to give you a round-up of my working week!
This week, I have been asked to be involved in a number of projects. And they couldnt be any more different from each-other.
The first project is in diabetes care. In my local area, there has been a very low uptake of diabetes services. This incudes one to one sessions and group education. Some of these have been on hold due to COVID -19 but the uptake was low even before the pandemic. So, with a team, I will be working on ways to re-engage people in their diabetes care. This includes the use of a smart device (tablet), loaded with diabetes resources. I have already produced the content for this but will also be involved in writing website copy and producing some learning resources for local health sites. I will also be holding focus groups (remote for now) to ask people what they actually want and will doing clinical reviews for those who need support.
The second project is quite different, and is about identifying frailty in older people who have been discharged from hospital, into the community. This means working on a simple screening tool and doing some training for carers to try to help those who are at risk. This is extremely important right now, with many people being discharged post COVID and/or not able to see their GPs or other health service. I will blog more on frailty next week.
The last one, which I am doing today is a little scary but really important. I am chatting with Harriet Smith at HRS Communications and Dr Stuart W. Flint , Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Leeds, President of Scaled Insights and Director of Obesity UK, on a podcast- The Dietitian Cafe on the topic of weight discrimination in dietetics. In the podcast, we will be talking about what weight stigma is, terminology when discussing weight, stigma around heavier health professionals, consequences of weight stigma, and more. This should be a really juicy topic and should be online in a week or so.
Looking forward to the weekend and starting a great new week.
