March Discussion Question 1
The first part of the article discusses the lack of core
knowledge and competencies for a master’s in nutrition/nutrition-related fields. Examples are provided
that relate to other health science disciplines. What core competencies do you
feel are most associated to a master’s in a nutrition-related field?
posted by Julie @ 8:33 AM
28 comments
28 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
All of the core competencies listed are important. Critical thinking and communication stand out as foundational though. Critical thinking is hard to top for the number one spot on the list. Developing the ability to evaluate both research and different situations with clients/patients is paramount to our ability to practice in the field of dietetics. Our job is not like an assembly line, doing the same thing over and over. Our role changes based on the clients’ needs (and the field’s needs with regard to research). Graduate school develops flexibility in independent thinking. To make valuable contributions, we need to be able to evaluate needs and think critically about how we can best meet those needs.
Building upon the foundation of critical thinking, the distinction between a Master’s and a Bachelor’s Degree likely circles around the depth of understanding of nutrition. It’s an 80+ question multiple choice test with maybe a few short answer questions versus a 5 question essay test (both taking the same amount of time). It’s giving a 10 minute presentation versus leading an hour long case study lecture/discussion. This speaks to development of the ability to communicate our knowledge base both written and verbally. It’s recognizing facts and knowing what you should do versus understanding a process well enough to explain it (in multiple ways if necessary). Again this applies to both research and client/patient based roles.
I feel like our program gives us an advantage to other programs with the focus on development of leadership skills. Leadership skills elevate you from working within the parameters provided to creating opportunities to make things better. It the development of a thought process. The challenge with this question as a second year students is distinguishing what came from rotations and what came from the additional coursework and classes.
While the other core elements applied to master's programs are essential and crucial to one's knowledge in health sciences, critical thinking and communication skills go hand-in-hand and are important skill sets to obtain. As professionals, understanding and applying literature to our client assessments and client education will broaden our view of patient needs, rather than generalizing clients based on their current medical condition/disease.
As undergraduate programs prior to dietetic internships may provide the skill sets to obtain those levels of critical thinking and communication, the master's programs geared towards conducting, understanding, and utilizing research will strengthen a student's critical thinking, as they will need to understand what literature says about whatever situation they are faced with in the health setting. Registered dietitians teaching clients and making clinical judgments based off of evidence-based research is critical and those in master's programs prior to dietetic internships and those that arenot may educate and assess patients differently.
When evaluating necessary core competencies for a Master's Degree in nutrition, I think leadership skills, critical thinking/problem solving, networking, and understanding the research process. Thinking back to my own experience, I feel that our own program at ISU covers all of these core competencies; however, I feel that networking is a highly important life and career skill that could receive a greater focus and priority in a Master's program.
I attended the Leadershape Institute while during my undergraduate education, and participated in a networking workshop that motivated and empowered me to communicate and follow-up with individuals I meet in the community. As many of us have found when looking for jobs or needing a specific talent/task it is all about who you know. I truly think that networking is a necessary and highly beneficial skill for anyone at the Master's level.
I definitely agree with Nikki that Master's programs are focused more on understanding/interpreting literature and research whereas undergraduate programs are focused more on factual information and lower levels of critical thinking. When considering Bloom's Taxonomy, Master's programs certainly hit the higher levels of critical thinking.
Although I feel all of the competencies listed in the article are important, I feel for a master’s in a nutrition-related field communication skills, critical thinking skills, leadership skills, and understanding, and utilization of research are the top four most important competencies. In my opinion, some of the skill sets listed, such as leadership, are developed during a students undergraduate years when they have options to run for positions, start new organizations, new projects and really get involved. However, although we develop these skills early on I feel it is still important to continue using them through your masters. I think our program does a great job ensuring we continue using these skills, which will help us continue using them after we graduate.
For the nutrition field communication skills are very important because you will always have to be communicating your knowledge to others. Critical thinking is also very important because there will be many times when you need to use your judgment to solve a problem. Most of the time you will even use these skills together. Perhaps you have a client who doesn’t know anything about nutrition, you have to use your communication skills and critical thinking skills you develop in your masters program to help your client understand and live a healthier life. The last competency that, in my opinion, is important is understanding, and utilization of research. It is very important to always be up-to-date on research especially when you are communicating knowledge to the public. It is our responsibility as nutrition majors to be up-to-date on all subjects of the nutrition field and have an idea of what research is currently being conducted. You don’t want to be giving your clients/the public out of date information.
Jenn, I agree that networking could receive a greater focus and priority in a Master's program. Networking has becoming very important and can give you a great advantage when seeking a job. I feel that in our program, and other programs, a lot of the networking comes from our rotation spots.Perhaps, adding a networking class during the first year of the internship would be something to consider.
While I feel that all of the competencies listed are essential, I agree with Gina that it is hard to top critical thinking as the top priority for a master's in a nutrition-related field with communication following close in second. A lot of aspects of nutrition, like other health sciences, is not always an exact equation or one single answer to a problem, therefore mastering critical thinking skills is vital for top tier health care. As I found in my clinical rotation, majority of patients are not like the case studies you get during undergrad where it is just a 250 pound man with diabetes, he is a 250 pound man with diabetes, history of heart disease and had a recent surgery requiring higher protein needs, which is where critical thinking comes to play. Patients typically have more than one simply diagnoses and require above and beyond health care.
Communication, in my opinion, should be near the top of the list of importance for all healthcare providers. In many settings, healthcare is provided through a team effort, so communication between doctors, nurses, dietitians, physical therapy, pharmacy, speech therapy and others is essential for all of the team members to be able to provide their best care. If a dietitian forgot to tell a pharmacist that the patient has had a loss of appetite for the past 3 days, they would have no way of knowing if perhaps one of their meds was causing this issue, which is why communication is key in the healthcare setting. In addition, the communication competency is important for being able to communicate with patients. When I started into rotations, one of the things I struggled with was putting a patient's condition into simple terms. Being able to understand what diabetes is is not the same as being able to clearly explain this to an anxious, newly diagnosed patient.
I feel that all of the core competences listed in the article are essential for a nutrition-related master’s curriculum, but leadership, communication skills, and critical thinking are the three I find most important. As the article states, a master’s degree “has become a terminal degree that enhances a person’s progress in their career, expands their career options, and improves their professional practice.” I do not believe any of those listed can be achieved without the advancement of leadership, communication, and critical thinking skills. I believe leadership and communication are extremely important skills to improve on if you want to further advance your career. Learning to effectively lead and communicate well with others will enhance a person’s career in almost any field, including dietetics/nutrition. Learning to think critically is also an important competency to focus on. Applying critical thinking skills to the nutrition/dietetics knowledge we have already learned can take us much farther in our careers.
I agree with Jenn and Nikki, undergraduate education focuses on the basic/factual information required for the nutrition and dietetics profession, while a Master’s focuses on learning how to critically think about the information we have previously learned. Critical thinking is something that is touched upon in undergraduate education, but a Master’s degree goes much further in depth and gives us the skills we need in order to apply it to our careers.
I think the core competencies for a master’s in a nutrition- related field are communication, critical thinking skills, and knowledge of the research process. I also believe leadership is an important and beneficial quality for a nutrition- related field, however I don’t think it is always necessary depending on the job. Communication with clients could be the most important part of a nutrition related job and therefore I believe it is a crucial core competency. In addition, having knowledge about the research process is crucial in nutrition. All the knowledge we share with clients should be backed by appropriate research. Therefore, people obtaining a master’s in a nutrition related field should have a solid grasp on how to read and interpret research articles.
I agree with Jenn that networking is an important core competency as well for someone trying to obtain their master’s. Networking has always been around, but since social media and the internet have become such a large part of everyone’s lives I think networking (through multiple forms of media and face- to- face networking) is becoming an even more necessary skill to have.
Tessa, as I stated above I think leadership is an important skill, but not necessarily necessary for a master’s in a nutrition- related field. However, after reflecting on your comment I think you make a great point that since a Masters is an advanced degree leadership is very important because without the leadership mentality one might not be even in the situation to obtain a Masters. I think distinguishing the different core competencies for a master’s in a nutrition- related field compared to an undergraduate degree in a nutrition- related field would be interesting to observe what competencies were important for both and which competencies were necessary in one, but not necessary in the other.
I believe that the most important core competency listed for a nutrition-related field is critical thinking skills, closely followed by utilization of research. Critical thinking skills are necessary in every career, especially health sciences, but are particularly essential when dealing with individualized health conditions, diet preferences, and food/health trends. There is such a complicated network of nutrition-related factors that affect an individual’s health that advanced critical thinking skills are needed to navigate these factors. A dietitian needs to be able to assess concurrent nutritional implications of clients’ lifestyles and prioritize nutritional goals.
Advanced understanding of research and its utilization is also an extremely important competency in nutrition-related fields. As dietitians, we pride ourselves on acting as nutrition experts that provide evidence-based recommendations. The adherence to scientifically supported advice is where our foundational credibility comes from. Anyone who reads books, watches TV shows, and reads internet articles can provide nutrition advice. However, without scientific support from legitimate research studies this advice is not particularly valuable. It is our job as nutrition professionals to act as mediators between the body of dense scientific research and the general public. Interpretation and application of research is critical to providing the highest quality nutrition advice to those that desire it. Additionally, well-developed critical thinking skills are what drives this utilization of research. For these reasons, these competencies are the most associated and most important in or field.
I think that Gina did an excellent job articulating some things pertaining to the importance of critical thinking. It is absolutely true that our jobs are not like an assembly line. To be a successful RD, critical understanding of the big picture and applicable contexts is needed. An additional specific example for clinical settings is how an RD may use a standardized nutrition assessment form and specific diagnosis terminology for a patient. Despite these more standardized procedures involved with the NCP, each RD must take this information, interpret it, and develop an individualized nutrition-focused treatment plan for the patient. Gina also explained the distinctions between a BS and MS educational track, which further depicts the need for critical thinking in addition to linear thinking.
As most have already mentioned, all of the core competencies that were mentioned at the beginning of the article are important. I thought Nikki made a good point about how the critical thinking and communication skills go hand-in-hand. When you think of it, all of the competencies mentioned are intertwined in some way. I also agree with Gina in saying that “critical thinking” is hard to top on the list. Without having the critical thinking skills, it would be difficult to do many of the other competencies, such as “utilization of research”, etc. We, as health professionals, must be able to look at an article and think it through critically. Especially since there are so many publications about nutrition, we need to be able to read articles in their entirety and draw conclusions using those critical thinking skills.
Like many others have said, the competencies that were mentioned in the article including critical thinking and communication skills are are undoubtedly important to a master's degree in any field. I I would add application to the list of competences that are important to a M.S. in nutrition and dietetics. Undergraduate coursework, like Gina said, focuses more on teaching factual information. What is diabetes? What are the signs of diabetes? What is the diet prescribed for diabetes? Whereas graduate coursework takes it one step further with exactly how would you approach a situation where xyz is happening? Through the internship we are further exposed to situations and can witness how RDs apply their extensive nutrition knowledge. Critical thinking is the first step in deciding how to handle a situation, and application is taking it one step further and taking action to handle that situation. Communication would be involved here as well, be it among members of a healthcare team, among family members, or between patient and dietitian. Therefore, I feel critical thinking, application, and communication are among the competencies important to a masters in nutrition.
I agree with what Tessa brought up about the importance of leadership. I think that leadership is an under-recognized skill that is exemplified daily without notice. Like the book we all read "You Don't Need a Title To be a Leader," leadership skills make a significant difference in enhancing care we will be providing to others. I think that our program teaches us skills that lends to confidence in making decisions, thinking critically, and practicing our leadership skills on a daily basis.
Developing networking skills would definitely be a good competency to include in a graduate program. How to network appropriately can be a very ambiguous concept, but I agree that it is very important skill set to develop. Networking can run a fine line between really connecting with someone professionally and just being a suck up. Developing the skill to network genuinely and professionally can really boost your ability to make quality connections. Just like friends, quantity versus quality should be a consideration.
Of course all of the competencies are equally important and critical to success at the master's level in nutrition. As others have mentioned before, I also believe that critical thinking and professional communication are at the top of list as far as importance. I feel as though we use those specific competencies on a daily basis. I also feel that understanding and utilization of research is extremely important. To be able to critically evaluate a research article and then apply what you have learned is crucial. I definitely agree with Gina's perception of differentiating between the Master's and Bachelor's degree levels. There is a big jump between simply understanding the material and critically evaluating it.
Kelly Berg:
Along with the majority of other opinions, I strongly agree that networking, critical thinking/problem solving, and communication are three crucial core competencies in which master students should be firmly engaging and enhancing knowledge in within a nutrition-related field. Undergraduate courses allowed students to grasp the details of the material, but only to a certain depth. A master’s program should be challenging and provide further detailed information to be studied and utilized. Knowing the facts in a nutrition or health related field is only part one of this multi-dimension field. Being able to utilize the information known is ideal to help and to enhance the health and lives of others; this is where mastering communication skills is important. Critical thinking and problem solving can only be done correctly with the proper education and experience which is why I feel that courses taken prior to dietetic internship rotations are substantial to becoming a successful dietitian. In addition, we will work with humans, and possibly with extremely diverse populations, while providing nutrition education or medical nutrition therapy. A master’s student should be able to learn how to work with and along side of such populations. Adding to this, being able to sell yourself for the role you want and deserve to work within will provide you with the environment you will strive in. Getting to know people, asking for help and advice, selling yourself, and providing the best care to individuals are skills necessary to perfect within the years of earning a master’s degree in a nutrition-related field.
While all the core competencies mentioned in the article are important, I believe that communication and critical thinking are the most associated to a master’s in a nutrition-related field. Many individuals pursue a Master’s Degree to improve their professional practice and a person needs to be able to successfully communicate with peers, clients, etc. in a way that is appropriate for each individual’s comprehension to be an effective dietitian. For, regardless of how knowledgeable a nutrition healthcare individuals is, without effective communication skills, that knowledge will be useless.
Critical thinking skills are also vital to the success of individuals in a nutrition-related field. Food is something that is a part of everyone’s life and a topic everyone “knows something” about or has an opinion on. Therefore, it is necessary for nutrition individuals to be able to sift through all the nutrition trends, myths, research, and information out there to determine what is accurate and credible, then be able to apply that knowledge to any situation.
Jenn I thought you made a grate point about networking being a key skill that can be very beneficial to anyone perusing a Master’s Degree. And as Moriah pointed out networking can be a great advantage in finding a job. Additionally, I feel that including networking skills as a part of a master’s program will improve students’ confidence in their developing abilities, making them more successful in their chosen careers.
Like the majority of my classmates have stated all of the core competencies proposed for health science degree programs are both applicable and critical to the practice of nutrition and dietetics. I suppose this could fall under the "professional communication skill" umbrella but I feel as though thoughtfully incorporating evidence into counseling and patient education would be an important competency to specify.
At least in my experience during rotations I've noticed the difference between simply stating evidence based facts to patients, and actually weaving the knowledge into individualized counseling approaches and suggestions. I feel like their engagement and interest takes a nose dive when it is just stating facts. On the other hand, when evidence can be tactfully melded into personalized recommendations, well I feel as though that is when a genuine connection is made and real learning and motivation can take place.
I think this competency would be especially important in our field because food and eating habits can be quite personal and essentially part of who we are. It makes finding the balance of factually based yet compassionate counseling all too important.
Kelly, I really like the point you made about differentiating the purpose of undergrad vs graduate degree in our field. I think you are absolutely correct in that undergrad is a chance to grasp the details of the material, and grad school is a chance to expand upon that material once you fully understand it. I think ISU is a great example of that. The family and consumer science degree with an emphasis in nutrition has absolutely helped me expand on the factual nutrition knowledge I learned in undergrad. It has helped me see a whole new side of practicing nutrition, the actual consumer side. I think having a graduate degree can absolutely make a student a more rounded future practitioner.
Like many others have said, Jenn, great point about networking. That is a competency I probably would have never thought of. I would be interested to see how a program would specify networking as a competency. I like the way Gina phrased the goals of a networking competency "to be genuine and professional". I think networking is something we all do unconsciously, but becoming aware of it could definitely help strengthen one's skills. An idea for this competency could be adding a section to the weekly logs where you reflect on a networking experience you had that week during rotations.
The competencies I believe are most associated to a master’s in nutrition related fields are critical thinking and leadership. Critical thinking is crucial when delving deeper into research to understand what health nutrition related claims are valid and which are not. This competency is also applicable in all decision making, for example deciding what TPN formula to place a patient on, or what new equipment is needed for a food service establishment. The decision-making aspect of the nutrition related fields also make leadership a necessary competency. Throughout my internship I have used critical thinking and leadership. These two competencies are not only required but also sought after when hiring professionals in the nutrition related fields.
After reading Carly and Tessa's comments I think that leadership isn’t as crucial of a competency if one isn’t interested in advancing in their career. As Carly mentioned, it is interesting to delve deeper in the differences in graduate and undergraduate programs and specifically observe what role leadership plays in both.
Especially with the requirement of a master degree in our field by 2024, I think the development of competencies would streamline our field in a positive way. The competencies I think would be associated with a master's degree in nutrition would be most of the ones mentioned in competencies used in health sciences, but I would say critical thinking, service to the profession, and advance practice are key. When dealing with patients that have various chronic diseases and nutrition-related issues, critical thinking is important as a health care provider to assess and prioritize the treatment. Service to the profession is important because as an emerging field to the public-eye, I find it most influential for RD's to be present to the public to stretch our skills even more. Lastly, advance practice is crucial with learning the trades of the field.
I agree with Justine's point that leadership is almost all in-compassing of the competencies of communication, increasing confidence in critical thinking and advanced practice. As a RD with a master's degree, we should be the leaders of the nutrition-related field. Having leadership competencies would assure RD's going out in the field will be well-recognized and respected!
Service to the profession, and advanced practice competencies hold in strongest competition for necessary outcomes of a Master’s program in nutrition. Undergraduate curriculum, already highly subjugated to standardized courses, incorporates the bulk of nutrition content expected of an introductory professional. Therefore, Master’s programs have the opportunity to test and further develop this content through the catalyst on in the field experience. By working with current professionals student may contribute to the field of knowledge while deepening their comprehension of core principles and defining specialties which may shape the students future career.
I think there are variety of competencies that are important for a Master’s Degree in nutrition but I think that some that stand out to me are the critical thinking/problem solving and understanding the research process. I agree with Gina and Amanda that critical thinking is an important competency that pairs with a lot of other competencies. Prior to coming to ISU, I had some exposure to research and reading journal articles, but I feel like after taking research methodology and stats I have a much better understanding of the process. Also, as an undergrad, I don’t think I was challenged to critically think as much as I have during grad school. When I was in undergrad, I was mostly regurgitating the information from my notes/textbook, but grad school has taught me to go further and form my own ideas and conclusions.
I agree with Steph that communication is another important competency that should be toward the top. I think dietitians in community, food service, and clinical would all agree that communication is a crucial part of their every day job.
As mentioned by some above, critical thinking is a very important competency to have for any field, including ours. We learn to memorize so much information in our undergrad, and the Master's courses really help us to practice applying and think critically with what we know. It is also very important for us to understand how to read and understand research articles and apply new research findings to practice in our future careers. During my undergrad and part of my Master's courses, I did not realize the importance of understanding research articles and reading them, but after going through my clinical rotation I really see the value of that competency. I also agree with Steph about communication being an important competency, in any field actually, but especially in ours where we need to counsel others and provide education to patients and health care professionals.
I would consider the most important core competencies associated to a master’s degree in nutrition fields to be critical thinking and decision making, practicing evidence based research, and impactful communication. Keeping up with the ever-changing health field is going to be essential as future nutrition professionals. There is a plethora of unreliable nutrition information “out there”. Knowing how to locate, interpret, and incorporate research into practice is a skill that nutrition graduate students should practice. Effective communication skills should also be a core competency. As undergrads, we most often work with other students but master’s students should have communication opportunities with as many different populaces as possible. Master’s students should be able to effectively work with children, adults, elderly, health professionals, managers, department staff, community members, and so on.
In response to Gina, I completely agree that "our job is not like an assembly line". I do not feel extremely prepared for the "real world" application of my knowledge. Yes, I can confidently complete my case studies where the person has one condition that requires MNT. I do not feel confident in deciding on how to treat a patient who has 5 different conditions which all require different nutrition therapies. It may just be one of those situations where I can translate my critical thinking and decision making skills that were developed through other scenarios to these complicated situations. That seems to be the goal, but I see value in making sure that graduate students realize that real patients are usually not like the cookie cutter case study patients. Grad students should practice making difficult MNT judgements similar to situations that they will encounter in DI rotations and other nutrition related fields.
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