REFLECTING ON DIETITIANS WEEK Dietitians Week 2019 seemed to have been bigger and better than the last. This year the focus was on #WhatDietitiansDo. A simple idea, but as the public perception is that all dietitians just give out weight loss advice, this year’s focus was an effective one. Many dietitians who took part went on social media, especially Twitter, to tell people what they did each day. Some dietitians increased their profile by heading to the wards wearing colourful T-shirts, to promote the work of dietitians. Others even had nasogastric tubes passed! There was a lot of promotion to the public going on, with stands and events and so much more. At our Trust, the planning had been in full swing months before. We decided on a mainly social media strategy, with different themes each day. Our manager even persuaded the Communications department to let us take over the Trust Instagram account for the week. This is moving into new territory for us. We have a therapy Twitter account which we use regularly, but Instagram is different. It is more about storytelling. Our Communications department entrusted the account to me and said that I had free reign to do what we wanted (within the Trust’s social media policy, of course!). This was exciting. My colleagues had done a great job of collating lots of photos for each day. Our themes included: what other colleagues think dietitians do, what dietitians eat, nutritional assessment, nutrition champions and dietitians in research. Instagram has a different style to short sharp twitter. The photo is one part of it, but a good story to go with it is essential. Taking time to prepare these posts and then scheduling them was important.
Louise Robertson Specialist Dietitian
The 'Insta-story' side was fun: talking to myself in my office and capturing other dietitians at work. I even managed to persuade my IMD team down in clinic to appear on it as well. But, never would I have thought that we would do an Insta-live during work, especially on the Trust account! I managed to persuade a couple of my social media savvy colleagues to take part with me. We planned it for Tuesday at 1.30pm and promoted it beforehand. We prepped some questions and then filled the room with dietetic props. With adrenaline surging, we decided on a conversational style approach with each other, discussing what we did in our jobs and how we became dietitians. Our 15-20 minutes was up in no time. We even had a live question asked! It was very satisfying and motivating to make ourselves more approachable during the week. I think that sometimes, as clinical dietitians, we are worried about putting ourselves out there, but we shouldn’t be - we know our stuff! I was also involved in a group of freelance dietitians who helped produce a recipe book for charity. The idea and group were led by Anne Wright, an experienced freelance dietitian with a drive to see the project through. We all submitted our family-friendly recipes and then Anne created an e-book, launched during Dietitians Week with the support of the BDA. We raised £1420 in support of The Trussell Trust - a great achievement! Roll on next year.
Louise is an experienced NHS dietitian who has been specialising in the fascinating area of Inherited Metabolic Disorders in adults for the last 10 years. In her spare time she enjoys running her blog Dietitian's Life with her colleague and good friend Sarah Howe, playing the cello and keeping up with her two little girls! www. dietitianslife.com
To see what we got up to on the Trust Instagram account, check out @uhbtrust on Instagram.
www.NHDmag.com August/September 2019 - Issue 147
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Oral nutritional supplements (ONS) might contain milk protein, but that doesn’t mean they all have to taste like milk. If your patients are getting bored with their milkshake-style ONS, why not try them on Ensure Plus juce? It packs balanced nutrition into a refreshingly different juice-style supplement, and comes in a wide range of flavours, so there’s always a taste to match theirs. ENSURE PLUS JUCE. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT OUR WEBSITE NUTRITION.ABBOTT/UK
Date of preparation: May 2018 ANUKANI180120b
Like all juice-style ONS, Ensure Plus juce contains milk protein, and is not suitable for patients on a milk protein restricted diet.