Featured Student: Learning Outside of the Classroom

By Janet Zimmerman

 I love many of my classes as an undergraduate student.  I love MNT and learning about how to treat certain diseases.  I am also very thankful for my healthy body every time I do a case study.  I love learning about metabolism and am always in awe at the complexity of our bodies.  I like cooking and concocting new things in food lab.  As you can see, I like a lot of things about the undergraduate curriculum.

There are only a few things that I wish (and many RDs have told me they wish as well) were also included in our coursework as dietetics students.  These are things that definitely make a great addition to RDs, especially private practice RDs.

*Social Media- If we want to get correct nutrition information to the public, it seems smart to use social media as a tool to interact with the public.

*Counseling Classes- Most RDs will use counseling and motivational interviewing skills when talking to patients.  Yet, we are not really taught many of these tools.

*Information about Eating Disorder Treatment- Eating disorders are on the rise in our country, and RDs are a crucial part of the team of health professionals that work with patients in eating disorder recovery. Yet, in school, I have found that we learn very little about eating disorders and the role that RDs play in the process.

Since many RDs have encouraged me to learn about these areas, I have started looking for chances to gain more knowledge and experience outside of the classroom.  I attend conferences about the treatment of eating disorders; many times counseling skills and information about how to break through barriers with patients are also taught. I highly recommend conferences if you haven’t gotten that vibe already ; - ).   I also started listening to webinars, teaching myself, and learning about social media from people who are more social media savvy than me. 

I still have a lot to learn in all areas of dietetics, but I am so thankful that I have been able to gain some experiences and knowledge in these areas.  It has opened my eyes to a glimpse of all the opportunities that we (dietitians in the making) have!! Is there something that you have learned outside of the classroom that you have found very helpful as a RD to be? Would you add something to my list? Let me know.  I’d love to hear from you in the comments.