CLINICAL NUTRITION AND DIETETICS - 2021/2

Module Overview

The primary purpose is to consolidate students theoretical and practical knowledge in the dietary management of key clinical specialties and patient groups. They should integrate their practical expertise and knowledge from their Placement with a more in depth understanding of the metabolic basis for the treatment of patients with specific diseases (focusing on those which they will meet in their first post as a dietitian). Understanding the evidence base of their practice is also a key aim. The students will have the ability to critically appraise the literature and understand when it should be used to inform and update current practice.

Module provider

School of Biosciences and Medicine

Module Leader

ENGEL Barbara (Biosc & Med)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Successful completion of Dietetic B & C Placement  

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Metabolic response to starvation, trauma, surgery and inflammation
• Routes of Nutrition support: careful handfeeding, supplements, tube feeding and intravenous feeding
• Evidence based practice; how to appraise a paper, when to apply it to your current practice
• Ethics of feeding choices
• Cancer – role of dietitian in treatment and prevention
• The gut: immunity, inflammation, pancreatitis and IBS
• HIV
• Ketogenic diets and epilepsy
• Bariatric surgery
• Diabetes

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A CORE: Nutrition/Dietetics (B401) ONLY

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy of the coursework is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate that they:

·         Have a sound knowledge of and be able to discuss the current dietetic management of key clinical areas and specialties with particular reference to those experienced by the graduate dietitian in community and acute settings

·         Can source, critically appraise and apply the current evidence base for dietary management strategies and discuss the process of achieving change within dietetic practice

The exam is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate that all learning outcomes have been achieved and that they have the knowledge expected of a Band 5 dietitian

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

·         students work in pairs to appraise a research paper and summarise a current guideline. They also have to comment whether the new research paper would influence the guideline and hence whether clinical practice should change or not. Each pair presents this appraisal for 15 minutes in front of 8-10 of their peers (50% of coursework marks). Students hand in an individual 500 word summary which should be referenced appropriately.

·         The exam is 2 hours long and is comprised of 2 sections; a theory section and a case study. There is a choice of 3 questions in each section. One  question to be answered from each section

Formative assessment and feedback

Case studies are discussed throughout the module in each lecture. 

Module aims

• consolidate students theoretical and practical knowledge in the dietary management of key clinical specialties and patient groups
• enable the student to critically appraise the literature and understand when it should be used to alter current practice
• enable the student understand the theory and be able to carry out a nutritional assessment of the at-risk hospital patient
• enable the student to understand and debate the ethical implications of providing nutritional support
• develop an understanding of the metabolic and biochemical disturbances likely to be present in the catabolic and cachexic hospital patient especially in relation to gut function and systemic nutrient utilisation and balance. To be able to use this knowledge to devise appropriate care plans
• provide the opportunity for students to continue to develop communication, team working and presentation skills
• enable the student to understand the range and application of conventional and novel strategies available for nutritional support and be able to apply the appropriate strategy in their care plan
• allow students to develop confidence and competence so that having successfully completed their training they will be eligible on graduation to register as a dietitian with the HCPC

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

Provide students with the most up-to-date knowledge (in line with point 2.2 University L&T strategy), by inviting dietitians who are at the top of their field i.e. Band 7/8a dietitians and who are engaging in research themselves (point 4 L&T). This will improve their employability as it will be clear when they have an interview that they are understand Clinical Governance and how they can apply this by engaging in evidence based practice. 
Their skills for independent study (2.2) are also developed as they have to critically appraise the literature in order to prepare their presentation and précis and they can also use case studies which are provided on SurreyLearn (2.7) to prepare for the exam.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• 15 lectures (30 hours): all of which contain case studies and calculations which the students have to engage in – usually in pairs, before contributing their answers to their peers.
• 4 hours specific revision of course content halfway and at the end of the module to discuss the material. Students work individually to prepare a revision question then work in groups to prepare and present a summary of the answer. Feedback is immediate and the responses are posted on SurreyLearn
• Student led learning: students work in pairs to appraise a research paper and summarise a current guideline. Each pair presents in front of 8-10 of their peers. This results in deeper knowledge of specific topics which are relevant to the lectures. Students hand in an individual 500 word summary before Easter and are given feedback in time for them to modify and improve their presentation after Easter (this is in line with 4.3 L&T which requires that students are supported and appropriately assessed in order to facilitate progression..).

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: BMS3068

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2021/2 academic year.