module specification

Placement 3 is a 14 week placement providing the opportunity for students to observe and develop core skills in implementing the dietetic care process with individuals, groups and organisations/ communities in a variety of settings. They will experience different ways of communicating with a variety of people and practice skills that they will use throughout their careers.  The students will also establish links with practising dietitians in the area.  They will acquire and demonstrate a range of skills which will be assessed against the British Dietetic Association (2013) Curriculum Framework.
 

Brief Guidance Notes:

• Students will work the same hours as a full time member of staff.  Some flexibility may be required to allow for out of hours work. Students should normally have 3 hours per week as dedicated study time.
• Students should normally attend 100% of the placement. If sickness results in absence from placement, students will be expected to make up an agreed number of hours or repeat the placement, subject to discussion between the HEI and lead practice educator. This will take into account current performance and potential effects on future progression.  Any occupational health requirements related to prolonged sickness absence should be managed through the HEI provision.
• Where health problems have arisen an occupational health fitness for placement assessment will be required.
• Student services are available to provide counselling and other support mechanisms as required. Students will have to take action on advice from their placement and university staff.
• Students should not normally take re-assessments during the placement period but may take a maximum of one reassessment component with the prior agreement of the practice educator and placement tutor.
• If students have additional learning needs identified on placement such as a requirement for maths study skills or have specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia or dyspraxia they will be required to take appropriate remedial action whilst waiting for the repeat placement. Guidance and support will be offered by the university through the Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) and placement tutor.
• Students who have requirements which impact on their ability to take up placements in particular locations (due to a protected characteristic as defined by the Equality Act (2010)) should register with the university’s Disability and Dyslexia Service as recommendations relating to reasonable adjustments made by this service will also be considered at the time the student is selected for allocation.  Placements have experience of managing additional needs and reasonable adjustments will be put in place.
• Students have the opportunity to indicate on their placement application form any carer responsibilities which may impact their ability to take up specific placements.  Students must provide details of their carer responsibilities and provide supporting evidence to their Placement Tutor prior to the point of allocation.  Students should outline clearly how  their carer responsibilities impact on their placement selection and what features are required of the placement.  Providing this information will not guarantee that the student will be allocated to one of their preferences but the student’s circumstances will be considered at the time the student is selected for allocation.
• This module does not provide academic credit but successful completion is an essential requirement of the course to ensure that students are eligible to apply to the register of health professionals on completion of BSc (Hons) Dietetics and Nutrition/PG Dip Dietetics and Nutrition.

In order to be eligible to undertake the Placement 3, students should normally have passed:

1. DI6W52 Placement 2 and thus the pre-requisites for this*
2. DI6W64 Preparation for Placement
3. .A current enhanced DBS Certificate for the Adults' and Children's Workforce which has checked both the Adults' and the Children's Barred Lists.

Undergraduates

4. DI6053 Public Health and Nutrition

Students who fail subjects that are university pre-requisites for placement will not normally be allowed to progress to placement.
Following successful completion of pre-requisites by the student, a placement will usually be allocated in the next allocation cycle (i.e. they will join the cohort of students in the year below).
Students who have met the academic pre-requisites for placement, but require reassessments in other modules, may not be able to progress to placement
*For the purposes of eligibility for DI6W63 Placement 3 a provisional pass prior to Subject Standards Board is acceptable

The aims of this module are aligned with the qualification descriptors within the Quality Assurance Agency’s, Framework for Higher Education Qualifications. More specifically the module aims to enable the student to continue to develop dietetic practice and apply the knowledge, skills and professional attributes required to implement the nutrition & dietetic care process with individuals and groups and organisations/communities in a variety of settings. An additional aim is to enable students to develop and apply the knowledge, skills and professional attributes required to implement the nutrition and dietetic care process in the context of public health nutrition.
This module aims to provide students with the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring: the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility; decision making in complex and unpredictable contexts; and, the learning ability needed to undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature.

 The specified learning outcomes will be developed around a framework based on the following subject matter:

• Three week public health component of placement which includes needs assessment of communities and populations as well as the use of demographic, epidemiological, anthropometric and nutrition survey data.
• Planning, implementing and evaluating public health strategies.
• Multidisciplinary working
• Management of the dietetic treatment of individuals with long and short term health needs in variety of environments.
• Application of skills in prioritising workload and managing time effectively
• Case load management
• Interpretation of current professional conduct documents through their dietetic practice
• Dietetic group education sessions to clients and health care professionals
• Observation and reflection on how audit enhances dietetic practice
• Effective communication

Students will be guided in their learning using a combination of observation, guided tasks and activities, private study, discussion and feedback.

Students must demonstrate competence for each learning outcome with regard to individuals, groups and organisations/communities in a variety of settings and demonstrate the ability to practice as a dietitian at a level consistent with entry to the profession by the end of placement 3.

The learning outcomes apply to individuals, groups and organisations/communities

In relation to patient/client assessment phase, students will be able to:

1. With minimal guidance, demonstrate the ability to identify, collect and interpret relevant   information and evidence from the range of sources available.

In relation to the nutrition & dietetic diagnosis, students will be able to:

2. Independently formulate and justify appropriate nutrition and dietetic diagnoses.

In relation to patient/client intervention, planning and implementation, students will be able to: :

3. Develop suitable dietetic management goals.
4. Design and implements an action plan for achieving dietetic goals.

In relation to monitoring and evaluation, students will be able to:

5. Review, monitor and evaluate dietetic interventions

In relation to professional attributes, students will:

6. Understand and demonstrate reflective practice and consistent professional behaviour in accordance with the legal and ethical boundaries of the dietetic profession and the requirements of the Health and Care Professions Council.
7. Communicate effectively in all areas of dietetic practice.

 In order to pass Placement 3 the student must have satisfied the dietitian in charge of training that they have demonstrated competence in each learning outcome

Placement verification
Following completion of placement 3 the following categories of students will be required to meet with a relevant member of academic staff to devise a non-negotiable programme of learning with specified competencies in order to progress. The learning programme will be devised on the basis of feedback received during placement visits and on the end of placement form.

The categories of students are:

1. Students who qualify for extra time for Placement 3 after the event and who need to demonstrate continued learning prior to their new placement.

Procedures in the Event of Failure

1. Students failing to successfully complete placement 3 may be eligible for additional training weeks as guided by the BDA (2013) Curriculum Framework and the relevant course specification (BSc (Hons) Dietetics and Nutrition or PG Dip Dietetics and Nutrition)
2. Students who have not met four or more learning outcomes will be considered as having failed their placement and will be entitled to apply for a full repeat placement through the repeat placement panel process.
3. If students have failed to meet up to three learning outcomes at the end of placement 2 or 3, they will normally be allowed to extend by up to 4 weeks (within the total limit, see point 1.) The decision to extend their placement will be taken in consultation with the student, placement educator and tutor. The student should normally complete extended placement weeks at the site where they completed their original placement
4. If following an extension to placement, the student has still failed to meet all of the learning outcomes, they will be entitled to apply for a repeat placement.
5. The decision to allocate students a repeat placement will be made by the Repeat Placement Panel. The panel will consist of the external examiner for the dietetics courses, a dietetic practice educator who is a member of the placement sub set, the dietetics placements tutor and the dietetics course leader. In addition to this the panel may also include members of academic staff who are involved in the delivery of dietetic placement education in London
6. The decision to allocate a repeat placement will be based on the total hours allowed (see point 1), the student’s ability to acknowledge the reasons for the initial failure, the action taken to address the issues for failure and the student’s engagement with a remedial programme
7. If the panel decides not to allocate a student a repeat placement they will be either transferred to a suitable alternative course or awarded with the most suitable alternative qualification.

Students will be guided to appropriate reading by their supervisors on placement, depending on the clinical areas to be covered.
British Dietetic Association (2008) Code of Professional Conduct (Online) Available at https://www.bda.uk.com/publications/professional/code_of_conduct_bda_2008 (Accessed at 10 June 2013)
Food Standards Agency (2002) McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods. Sixth Summary Edition. The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge.
Gandy J (2014) Manual of Dietetic Practice, 5th Edition, Wiley-Blackwell
Donaldson, R.J. (2002) Essential Food Hygiene. London: The Royal Society of Health.
Health & Care Professions Council (2013) Standards of Proficiency – Dietitians [Online].  Available at:  http://www.hpc-uk.org/assets/documents/1000050CStandards_of_Proficiency_Dietitians.pdf (Accessed: 10 June 2013)
Health Professions Council (2008) Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics [Online].  Available at:  http://www.hpc-uk.org/assets/documents/10003B6EStandardsofconduct,performanceandethics.pdf (Accessed: 10 June 2013)
British Dietetic Association (2012) Model and Process for Nutrition and Dietetic Practice [Online].  Available at http://members.bda.uk.com/profdev/profpractice/modeldieteticpractice/ModelProcessDieteticPractice.pdf (Accessed: 10 June 2013)
<<follow the above referencing style for websites too.. ?
e.g. Hpc-uk.org, (2014). HCPC - Homepage (Health and Care Professions Council). [online] Available at: http://www.hpc-uk.org/ [Accessed 6 Oct. 2014].
Tool to use: https://www.citethisforme.com/