Expectations vs Reality of Dietetics Placement

Hi, my name is James, and I am starting my final year as a BSc Nutrition & Dietetic student at King’s College London.

Is your placement quickly approaching and you’re not sure how to feel about it - switching between anxious and excited? It can be a daunting prospect not knowing what to expect or whether the reality of placement is what you expected it to be at all. Well, I’m here to share some of my expectations vs reality with you; the things no one tells you about dietetic placement. No sugar-coating. Just straight up realistic insights. 

Working the 9-5pm life?

 Starting placement as a student with as much exposure to the 9-5 Monday to Friday working life as a weekend job in a busy retail store, naively thinking I could hack the whole placement. The experience is like a rollercoaster - massive flop in bed after the most adrenaline-filled first few days, and then you plateau as you get used to the continuous cycle of waking up early to commute to work, going home during rush hour to be met with cooking dinner and bedtime swiftly after. Whilst also having to keep up with weekly reflections and placement-related admin, albeit essential for your professional practice and to pass, you don’t really have time to complete it during the work day, so after hours it is. Bottom line is: placement is draining so make sure you have time to de-stress, not think about dietetic or placement-related things, TGIF and enjoy those weekends.

Dietitians are mini administrative secretaries?

 I thought I’d be running around all over the place like all the other hospital staff you see along the corridors or on those hospital shows on the telly. One thing that university doesn’t tell you about is the copious amounts of admin involved. Student dietitians and dietitians spend the majority of their time in the office, writing up notes and GP letters. While they do come into contact with patients, you only go up to the ward to chat for a short while when you need to, then it’s back to the office to write up your notes. Even in outpatients or in the community where you’ll spend a lot of time calling up patients/nursing/care homes, shortly after, it’s, you guessed it, admin time. Good news is the more you do it, the better and faster you’ll get.

Need to learn everything before placement?

 Remember those days of learning and forgetting Kreb’s cycle or how nutrient reabsorption occurs in the nephron in 1st year? Or perhaps more recently learning about interpreting biochemistry, different types of medications, or all those medical abbreviations you might come across? Well, you’ll be pleased to know you don’t need to know all of them from the top of your head or use every single detail you’ve learnt in the past 3-4 years. If you don’t know something, you can just look it up or ask your supervisor. Google is your best friend, and of course, Fortisip or Ensure Plus has got your back too.

Nervous about talking to patients?

Practicing those communication skills at university with all the simulated patients, peers and lecturers observing you and awaiting their feedback on your performance was nerve wracking. But it’s not the real thing. In actuality, talking to patients is not nearly as daunting as you might think, it’s literally talking to people, which I’m sure you’ve done plenty of times before. Having a conversation or chatty style consultation as if you were getting to know someone for the first time can really help put both yourself and the patient at ease to build that good and trusted rapport.