What is a dietitian?
"Most of you might know, others guess and maybe some have no idea. I didn’t when I applied for my dietetic degree, I just decided that I wanted to teach the world how to eat properly, and prove my mother wrong about her dietary choices. So what does a dietitian do? A dietitian’s role is about more than healthy eating and being food dreamer’s destroyer. Dietitians are uniquely qualified to translate scientific information about nutrition and food into practical dietary advice. As well as providing impartial advice about nutrition and health, dietitians also advise about food related problems and treat disease and ill health.
"We never work alone. We are proud to work as a team, combining everyone’s expertise and experiences to provide the best care to our patients. Newham currently has a team of eight dietitians providing a wide variety of services. We all have different backgrounds and passions but our drive is the same – to provide the best nutritional care to our community. To write this piece I asked my colleagues what led them into dietetics and why they continue to work as dietitians – some for more than 20 years. All of them expressed their desire to support people with their nutritional needs and the satisfaction of seeing the improvements that diet can make to an individual’s health. But why Newham Hospital? I was curious…
"I have just started working here and I wanted to make sure that I’ve made the right choice. The Borough of Newham has a multicultural population and it’s true to say a challenge at every corner. However Newham Hospital has a unique ability to meet these challenges with unrivalled multidisciplinary rapport. It’s impossible to walk along the hospital corridor without being met with a smile and numerous enquiries from colleagues of ‘hello, how are you?’
"Covid-19 has affected every team in the NHS and presented challenges which have been many and varied. We have never faced an event like this which evolved so rapidly in terms of critically unwell patient admissions. Most patients in the ICU with Covid-19 will be sedated and ventilated and will have their raised nutritional needs met artificially via a feeding tube.
"Regardless of these challenges we are still here, we remain committed to improving the health of our patients and look forward to seeing them face to face.
"Dietetics as a career choice was the most unexpected decision of my life, but was without question the best one I ever made."
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