Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics/Master Nutrition and Dietetics

Nutrition and dietetic students are required to comply with the following standard of dress to attend all placements:

• Dress professionally and appropriately for your workplace.
• Students are encouraged to wear the navy-blue shirt or polo with the College of Nursing and Health Science emblem (Nutrition and Dietetics).
• Closed in shoes.
• Always clearly display your student ID card.

Valerie Travers

1/20 Benjamin St, Newton SA

Phone: (08) 8223 5373

Buy online: Valerie Travers website.

Students are required to wear photographic identification badges at all times on all placements.

Students on final year placement in metropolitan Adelaide will be required to attend regular tutorials on campus. These are usually scheduled on Wednesday afternoons to coincide with Journal Club. Students will be advised about the individual tutorial program for each of the placement types (clinical, food service and community public health) during their preparation for placement session.

Timetables for each rotation are available on FLO under each placement topic. Students on placement outside of metropolitan Adelaide will be required to attend tutorials remotely via Collaborate sessions on FLO.

Prior to undertaking placement topics, all students will participate in a 2-day placement preparation workshop, scheduled during the January intensive of the final year. In addition, individual University coordinators will provide a briefing session to provide you with relevant information regarding the requirements of each of the clinical, food service and community public health placements. The FLO site will include contact details for sites.

The session will brief students on:

• an introduction to placement
• learning and assessment details
• expectations and responsibilities of students during placement
• academic support
• essential revision of coursework.

Students can use the preparation for placement session to clarify and discuss issues or concerns they have about their placement.

Students will be notified about the preparation for placement briefing session, prior to each rotation.

You are required to read and understand the SA Health Clinical Placement Requirements for Healthcare Students (PDF)

If you have an existing condition or develop an illness or disability that may impede your ‘fitness for professional practice’, you must have the Flinders University Fitness for Professional Practice form (PDF) completed by a medical practitioner.

This form needs to be submitted to the placement education coordinator as soon as possible (for existing conditions, at least two weeks prior to the start of the semester).

Full-time attendance is compulsory in order to be eligible to pass each placement.  Usually, attendance from 8:45am to 5pm is required, or the normal working day of the host organisation. Occasional changes to these hours for valid reasons such as medical appointments or important family commitments are acceptable, provided they are negotiated with the placement site in advance. Consistent absences (including those on medical/compassionate grounds) will need to be made up by additional time at the end of the placement. Dietitians Australia stipulates that students must undertake a minimum of 100 days of placement. 

It is essential to have approval from placement educators and the University coordinator if you require any regular alteration of hours outside usual department working hours.

If you are injured or involved in an incident or accident while on placement you should report the event immediately.

You are required to:

• Immediately report the accident/ incident to the most appropriate person at the venue.
• Seek appropriate first aid or medical advice if required.
• Complete the venue's report form with the appropriate staff member.
• Complete a University accident/incident report via the Flinsafe website within 24 hours of the incident:
  • In FlinSafe click on the Report an Incident link at bottom of screen.
  • Enter all required details of the injury, incident or accident.
  • Enter your topic coordinator's name in the 'Topic Coordinator/Supervisor' field. This will ensure they are advised of the incident.
  • Depending on the nature of the event, a University work, health and safety representative will contact you for follow up.
    

This section provides guidance for finding solutions for issues that may arise during a placement, and suggestions about appropriate people to contact.

Issues sometimes arise on placement that you may not be able to resolve by yourself. Who to contact and potential solutions are covered below. Keep in mind that you are required to maintain professional behaviour and communication at all times, especially with those at the placement venue.

The communication framework below provides information about who to contact when you have a question about your placement.

First point of contact

When an issue arises at the venue where you are doing your professional experience placement, the first person to contact is always the University coordinator who is there to act as your advocate and to help resolve any matters of concern.

If the matter cannot be resolved with the assistance of the University coordinator:

• Make sure you have all relevant issues documented (for example, keep a full record of dates, times, what happened, any correspondence such as emails, and similar).
• Arrange to meet to discuss your concerns.

If you have done this and the problem is still not fixed - what to do next:

• Make an appointment to speak with your course coordinator.
• If the matter if still not resolved arrange to meet with the Dean (Education).

Where appropriate and as far as is possible, your anonymity will be preserved.

Remember that you have free access to the University Health, Counselling and Disability Services.

Are you experiencing bullying or harassment?

Flinders University is committed to ensuring that students can participate in workplaces that are free from bullying, harassment and discrimination, and where people are respected and diversity is embraced.

The College complies with the Flinders University principles outlined in No bullying at Flinders.

If you feel that you are being, or have been, bullied or harassed at a placement venue, report this immediately to your placement educator/facilitator and/or your topic coordinator.

Also, seek support and assistance as soon as possible from the University Student Equal Opportunity Adviser, who provides assistance to resolve complaints that arise from harassment or bullying, under the University’s Equal Opportunity Policy (PDF).

Are you having problems meeting the DA National Competency Standards?

The knowledge, clinical skills and attitudes required for your development as a competent dietitian are specified in each topic's learning outcomes and the DA National Competency Standards (NCS).

During your professional practice placement you may find some of the competencies more difficult to achieve than others - this is a normal part of learning. You can discuss these issues with your placement educator and/or University coordinator if you are having significant difficulties. They will assist you in developing learning strategies to achieve the expected outcomes.

You are encouraged to discuss how you believe you are meeting the NCS throughout your placement both in your portfolio and with your placement educator/clinical tutor. Students who require or are identified to require further support to achieve these may be offered a Learning Plan by the  placement educator/clinical tutor or University coordinator. These will be individualised with students to meet specific goals.

What is breach of conduct?

A breach of conduct is when situations arise where there are serious deficits in the way a student conducts themselves or behaves while on placement, for example when a student:

• behaves in an unprofessional manner; or
• does tasks outside their scope of practice; or
• engages in unsafe professional practice

When a breach of conduct occurs, the student will be referred to the University coordinator who will review whether they can continue activity within the topic, depending on the severity of the breach.

Patients and the public expect to be in a safe environment within a placement venue. If at any time a student demonstrates unsafe practice during a placement, they may be withdrawn from the placement venue. The placement educator will then notify the University coordinator and course coordinator, in writing, of the event or activity that required the removal of a student from the venue.

Unsafe professional practice include:

• inadequate knowledge for safe practice
• inadequate performance of skills, including communication
• unprofessional behaviour that places patients at risk of physical harm, unreasonable emotional distress or neglect
• unlawful or unethical behaviour.

If the issue/s that caused the removal of a student from placement can be resolved, and the venue agrees, a student may continue their placement. Negotiation for the support of a Learning Plan may also be considered.

The University coordinator, in consultation with the placement educator/clinical tutor and other relevant staff at the University and the venue, will determine whether a student may be reinstated.

If a student’s behaviour or practice is such that they would fail the topic, then they will not be reinstated.

An electronic portfolio represents a collection of evidence gathered over the duration of the placement to support your progress towards competence. Portfolios support the development of higher-order skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, reflection, self-directed learning and the ability to formulate questions. Portfolios encourage students to become active learners through construction of new knowledge and meaning making, as well as promote authentic and deep learning. Thus, the portfolio enables the assessment of both process (of learning) and product (achievement of the learning outcomes).

Obtaining feedback on performance from a variety of sources including clients, stakeholders, other members of the health care team/organisation, peers and educators is an effective way of demonstrating competence. A portfolio is a valuable tool for you to develop reflective practice and awareness of your strengths and weaknesses and to promote a sense of personal responsibility and accountability for your own learning.

Throughout the duration of your placements, you will continue to build on your portfolio. While the portfolio forms part of your placement requirements, more importantly, it helps you navigate through your learning experience. It allows you to articulate a map of your strengths as well as those skills that need more development and forms the first puzzle piece of your journey of life-long learning as a dietitian.

The aims of the portfolio are to:

• build your abilities to analyse your own professional progression and development;
• showcase your evidence of learning in a self-directed and reflective manner;
• support educators in providing feedback and assessment for learning; and
• provide a curated unique collection of your progress from ‘novice practitioner’ to ‘competent practitioner’.

During your placements, evidence of competency including that which describes progression of skills, reflective practice, acting on feedback relating to professional conduct, communication, and some self-directed tasks, will be reviewed by the placement educator and the University coordinator regularly. This forms a critical component of the placement topics.

While on placement you are required to engage in regular reflective practice as a means of evaluating your progress by recording your own learning. Reflective practice is an effective way for students to evaluate experiences and identify new understanding for the professional issues faced by dietitians in the workplace.

Reflection on practice allows you to develop self-evaluation skills through negotiating learning outcomes and monitoring and reflecting on personal progress. Feedback from past students indicates it is a very useful tool for directing learning experiences while on placement.

It will require you to record your thoughts whenever significant ideas occur to you or new knowledge is acquired. Regular entries should be collated within the Mahara e-portfolio. It is recommended that you take the time each week to consider the following:

• Look back on the tasks performed and learning experiences.
• Think about what has gone well and areas that need improving.
• Reflect on the feedback provided during the week
• Consider the DA National Competency Standards.
• Identify learning goals and objectives for the coming week to discuss with your placement educator.

Reflective practice model

One model you can use for reflection on practice is the Gibbs Cycle model (PDF).

Scholarships may also be available through the Rural and Regional Enterprise Scholarship scheme which is funded by the Federal Department of Education and Training.