Good day. My name is Dr. Evette van Niekerk and I'm the program coordinator for BSc Dietetics.
Today, I would like to provide you some information about the program BSc Dietetics..
The contents of today's talk will be an overview of the Division of Human Nutrition and Academia.
What is the dietician and the components of dietetics.
We'll look at the different training platforms that we have, and job opportunities for dieticians.
This slide shows a functional flow diagram, so a lot of information, but a functional diagram of
the Division of Human Nutrition showcases undergraduate and postgraduate studies,
as well as components like research, funding, and management.
The head of the Division of Human Nutrition is Professor Mbhenyane.
Our support staff are Mrs Avril Muller, Mr Fraklin van Wyk, Mrs Florence Coetzer, and Ms Isaacs.
The Division believes that students are active participants in the learning process,
and that the lecturer is the facilitator of quality learning.
We aim to produce professionals who are focused on self development and lifelong learning.
So what is a dietitian? A dietitian is an expert in dietetics.
We also focus on human nutrition and the regulation of the diet.
A dietitian advises people on what to eat and how to lead a healthy lifestyle to achieve specific health related goals.
What qualifications would you need to become a dietitian which is a four year degree.
Afterwards, you will register as a dietitian or Registered Dietitian at the HPCSA.
So let's get into the interesting stuff. Within dietetics we have three major components.
This includes community nutrition, therapeutic nutrition, and food service management.
We'll have a look at each of these now.
Community nutrition.
Community nutrition is a discipline that strives to improve the health and nutrition of groups of individuals.
The practitioners or dieticians, within community nutrition, develop policies and
programs that improve the eating patterns and health groups of people.
In the 4 years of your study of BSc dietetics, Community Nutrition is embedded in the following ways:
In the second year, you start with Nutrition in the life cycle, that's one of the subjects,
and then that builds on Community Nutrition 244.
Then in your third and final year, Community Nutrition 378 and 478.
Food Service Management.
What does a food service dietician do?
They have expertise in devising seasonal and therapeutic deviations, or variations, in menu's.
They try and make menus as appetising and as diverse as possible.
And all of this has to be done within nutritional requirements,
strict budgets and cost control and of course hygiene control.
The modules that are embedded in food service management in the degree is from your first year.
You will have Nutrient Foods 142 and then in the second year Foods Production and Systems,
followed by Applied Food Sciences, Managerial Principles, and then Food Service Management in the final year.
All of these modules have a practical underpin
which you will see has flown from community nutrition through to therapeutic nutrition.
The human resources available is Dr. Nelene Koen and Mrs Yolande Smit.
Therapeutic Nutrition.
Therapeutic or Clinical Nutrition includes the application of nutrition and behavioral sciences,
in the nutritional careplan of patients, or clients, if you're in private practice.
This includes the prevention and treatment of diseases. We work in a multidisciplinary team to assess the
patient and develop a nutritional care plan and provide nutrition education to your patient.
The modules embedded in Therapeutic Nutrition are from the first year again, and we have nutrition 142 followed by
Therapeutic Nutrition 244, Nutritional Status Assessment, and then in your third and final year therapeutic nutrition.
Again, you can see that there's a practical component embedded.
Let's have a look at the training platforms that you will be able to visit.
So the following platforms or facilities are available for students to do their clinical training. These include the
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Tygerberg Campus, Tygerberg Hospital, Bishop Lavis Clinic,
the food service units available from private hospitals, and then the rural clinical school.
Rural platforms, that the devision makes use of, so our students have wonderful opportunities to visit these rural platforms.
Job opportunities.
There are wonderful job opportunities upon completing your degree.
These include, but are not limited to, working within hospitals, in a private practice or food service unit.
You could also become involved with product development, research or academia.
Professional Matters.
Professional matters different organizations are available for dieticians to participate in.
Please visit the website for the South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition
where we have wonderful and interesting articles related to nutrition.
To conclude, it is important to us that you will not only accelerate academically,
but that you will also within limits take time to engage in social and student activities.
Also professional society involvement is very important for the development of a well rounded,
professional and to contribute to a richer campus life.
I thank you for your time.