NHD STUDENT BLOG SERIES
Planning your dietetic career
By NHD blogger, Sian Cunningham, RD
It is never too early to start thinking about where you would like your dietetic career to take you. Many of you may have decided to study nutrition and dietetics with a specific role in mind! Whichever way you approach it, having an idea of where you currently are in your level of practice and understanding what you might need to do to move to another level can make all the difference.
How specific you are in your plans may depend on individual personalities: do you prefer to have everything mapped out (five-year plan anyone?) or are you more interested in seeing lots of areas before deciding where you might like to focus?
The British Dietetic Association (BA) has developed a new Career Framework to help you...
What is the BDA career framework?
The framework clearly lays out the expected capabilities across the four pillars at each level of practice. The framework has been developed to be used by you and your manager to help support career progression and continued professional development. It is useful for dietitians working in any area of practice, from clinical to industry to academia.
Levels of practice
The framework covers all the levels of practice within the dietetic workforce, these include our brilliant support workforce who operate at the supportive and assistive levels; our newly qualified registered dietitians who join the workforce at the entry level; and then our more experienced workforce who operate at enhanced, advanced or consultant level.
Importantly, the framework also contains the pre-registration level, our wonderful nutrition and dietetic students, or as we call them, the future!
The four pillars of practice
The framework is built around the four pillars of practice, which include, if you need a little reminder:
Professional practice
Research and evidence
Facilitated learning and
Leadership
From students to support workers to consultants, regardless of the level at which you are practising, we all have the four elements of the pillars within our work and roles to a greater or lesser degree. By learning and developing our skills, work and knowledge across each of the four pillars, we can maintain our practice and become well-rounded professionals.
How to use the BDA career framework
The framework outlines the capabilities that are expected of someone working at that level of practice. By mapping your current practice against the framework, you can start to identify gaps and areas for further development opportunities that will help you achieve the level of practice you are looking to achieve. This means you could identify how to reach the top of your level of practice in a new role, or, if you have your sights set on Advanced Practice, for example, you can see what you might need to do to get there.
By using the available interactive tool, you can compare levels and identify the gaps and differences between the two.
The framework also provides information on the levels of education required for each level of practice, helping you to select further education that best meets your needs to achieve your career goals.
Once you’ve decided what you want to do (always the hardest part!), the next step to achieving your goals is knowing what you need to do to get to where you want to go is! Happy planning!
You can find out more by visiting the BDA webpages:
You can find out more by visiting the BDA digital webpages here..
Siân works with the BDA as Professional Practice Manager. She previously worked as an Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham. She has worked in a range of clinical areas, specialising in learning disabilities, palliative care and nutritional support. Twitter@: siancunningham2
Siân Cunningham, MSc, RD, AFHEA
Professional Practice Manager, BDA