Public Health Dietician Case Study

Improved Essays
Public Health Dietician

This assignment outlines the role of a public health dietician in terms of where they work, what they do, who they might work in collaboration with and what examples of some key health issues they address. It also looks at how the public health dietician role contributes to public health outcomes and ways it may become more important in New Zealand’s health system.

According to (Public Health Workforce, n.d.), a Public Health Dietician (referred to as a dietician throughout the essay) has a key role in the New Zealand (NZ) healthcare system to prevent diseases on a population scale and therefore improve health outcomes.

District Health Boards (DHBs) and non-government organisations (NGOs) such as the Heart Foundation
…show more content…
Dieticians work in the Heart Foundation Tick Programme. This is a programme where food products in local supermarkets are labelled with a tick, two ticks or no ticks depending on the nutritional value. This educates consumers to make healthy choices (Heart Foundation, 2016). In this role dieticians are involved in research and review of the tick criteria and communicate to others about the tick programme (Heart Foundation, …show more content…
One of many organisations trying to improve this is the human nutrition unit, a part of the University of Auckland (HNU). They are conducting a 3-year international study (PREVIEW) to develop new recommendations for the prevention of type 2 diabetes (Human Nutrition Unit, 2016). Dieticians have been involved in developing guidelines for the research and at completion of the study will create healthy eating advice for the population based upon the results. Dieticians also work with Diabetes NZ to supply nutritional information through their website to help those with diabetes or others who seek information about the disease. Dieticians help create the nutritional information section with recipes, tips, how to read food labels and what to buy and what not to buy for a diabetic. This can help diabetics or those hosting diabetics to minimise the risk of getting unstable blood sugar levels (Diabetes New Zealand, 2014). Dieticians creating prevention strategies is a vital way to contribute to improved health outcomes. By knowing what to look for in the onset of disease, developing healthy eating plans and spreading awareness can reduce the amount of people with diet induced diabetes in NZ (Diabetes New Zealand,

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    The ideal job to obtain after finishing college is a Clinical Dietician or Nutrition Consultant. This position will be obtained by education, experience and hard work. Dietary consultants can be employed independently or by health care organizations depending on career goals. From an ethical standpoint, the field of nutrition is focused on bettering and empowering individuals to live healthier, more productive lives. Business ethics means being honest, doing no harm and putting personal interests and goals behind those of the organization being supported (Collins, n.d.), by collaboratively working with patients, clients and supporting staff, this goal is obtained.…

    • 223 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to end hunger in North Texas. As part of Feeding America, a nationwide food bank network, the NTFB accomplishes this mission through over 250 Partner Agencies at more than 1,000 locations across 13 counties. Several departments are responsible for coordinating the variety of programs and services that contribute to NTFB mission. Every program or service involves connecting low income North Texans to nutritious food, while collecting recipient information (North Texas Food Bank [NTFB], n.d.). Discussing the specific characteristics of NTFB clients, services, program coordination, and first hand volunteer experience provides a detailed overview of this valuable organization.…

    • 1783 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Michael Pollan expresses the need to address and fix the problem with the western diet. He starts by reminding the readers of all the nutritional theories that try to explain the health diseases that are affecting American people. The author challenges these theories by placing the blame on the health and food companies, because they create new products and medicines instead of looking at the root causes. Although an easy solution would be to not eat as much processed foods, the author points out how even nature things like soil condition and livestock feed can make that task harder than it should be. Michael Pollan suggests that the consumers are part of the problem because they do not spend enough time or money on our food preparation because…

    • 158 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    RH DQ 3 Healthy People 2020 have been a popular topic for this class. One is unable to even read a single chapter without a blue box appearing with objectives that relate to those chapters topics from Healthy People 2020. Yet, even with all of this information being available, the author could not help but feel like she still did have a good understanding of what Healthy People 2020 were trying to accomplish. Lancaster and Stanhope (2016) write that Healthy People is a “national initiative to set and monitor national health objectives with the goal of improving the health of citizens”. Healthy People 2020 would have a direct effect on public health policy and practice.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nutrition deficiency is a problem worldwide, consisting of people not eating enough healthy foods. This issue is thought of for people who are underweight but one might not know that people with obesity are also lacking nutrition. One obvious reason for nutrient deficiency is food deserts that make is so people can not get the healthy foods they should be eating. Erika Nicole Kendall wrote “No Myths Here: Food Stamps, Food Deserts, and Food Scarcity” explaining the problems of food deserts with people growing up in neighborhoods with no access to nutritious food. The article “Food’s Class Warfare” by Tracie Mcmillan shows similar and contrasting issues relating to problems of food desert.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My response to Michael Pollan’s “Escape from the Western Diet” In Michael Pollan’s argument “Escape from the Western Diet” he claims that the western diet is the cause of western diseases. Pollan also thinks that the food industry and health care industry are working together. This can be concluded by the evidence provided and personal experience. Pollan provided great evidence that can be seen but hasn’t been noticed because it is something that may seem normal now.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the book Shedding That Which Is Not Us, Professor Daniel Shaw explores the current relationship between food and health within working class communities. He goes on to explain the “food segregation” that has plague poor communities and how this had led to a rise of diseases as such. Also he offers solutions on how the body can heal itself if provided the proper nutrition. Professor Shaw debunks myths and the rhetoric that act as a deterrent for individuals to change their food choices.…

    • 1841 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    In Defense Of Food Summary

    • 1333 Words
    • 6 Pages

    We are living in an age of nutritionism, which varies so much from original tradition diets focused on food as opposed to nutrients. The Western diet falls short of adequately providing nutrition, and the results are telling with how pervasive chronic diseases are now. Healthful eating provides many benefits and an opportunity to enjoy foods on a greater level in new ways, however it does take more effort to upkeep. The context in which foods and nutrients are consumed has great importance, and balanced use of knowledge of nutrients and foods as a whole is…

    • 1333 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The cultural group and their health dilemma that has been the focus over the SLP is Hispanics and fighting obesity. The core issue is the increased likelihood of obesity that has a linear relationship with length of duration in the United States (Lindberg, Stevens, & Halperin, 2013, p. 1). The best method to change the culture of obesity in Hispanics is to create a health education program that involves the whole family. The reason behind focusing on the family is that traditionally Hispanics place more of an emphasis on the well-being of the family versus the well-being of the individual (NCBI, n.d.).…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Healthy People 2020 Essay

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Healthy People Diabetes Healthy People 2020 is a10-year agenda that focuses on improving health for all Americans. Healthy People 2020 prioritizes public health issues within the nation, sets goals to address them, and monitors the progress of the initiatives taken on individuals and communities in order to see the impact of their prevention. This paper will focus on the public health issue of diabetes within the United States adult population. According to Healthy People 2020, diabetes is a condition in which an individual's body can no longer produce enough insulin, or their body cannot respond properly to insulin (United States Department of Health and Human Services[HHS], Healthy People, 2020, 2018).…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer” (Obesity). Obesity is one of the most common result caused by having bad diets. People mostly choose what is tasty and most of those delicious food are unhealthy. Moreover, they do not know what food plan is healthy; therefore the government should have a say in people’s diets. There many advantages by having the government decides people’s diets, such as getting healthier and knowing what can cause serious illness.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I am eager to start my career as a graduate student and look forward to learning more in depth about occupations in the field of Nutrition. As a graduate student, I will also continue to strive in the field of research and innovative solutions to the health problems communities face today. After becoming a registered dietitian, my immediate next goal is to become a lactation consultant. My long-term goal is to work for either a Health Department or a WIC clinic where I can work directly with people who are most at risk. As a Nutrition professional, I will be able to inform, educate, and ensure that people get the health care services they need when otherwise unavailable.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    C-T-E Model In Nursing

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Out of the 29.1 million people affected with diabetes 21 million were diagnosed, and 8.1 million were undiagnosed (ADA, 2016). The ADA (2016) reported that promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors can lower or eliminate one’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The term health promotion is a concept that is often incorporated in the healthcare field. According to Chinn and Kramer (2015) a concept is defined a multifaceted mental expression of an experience. The identified concept for this evidence based change project was “health promotion”.…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to (Public Health Workforce, n.d.), a Public Health Dietician (PHD) has a key role in the New Zealand (NZ) healthcare system to prevent diseases on a population scale. A PHD works in a variety of health organisations to improve health outcomes for diseases such as obesity and related conditions such as type two diabetes and coronary heart disease (CHD) by promoting or educating the public about the importance of healthy eating and exercise (American Medical Association, 2016). The public health dietician role involves promoting healthy behaviours, preventing illnesses as well as protecting against risk in large communities or in a population. Also they implement public policy, help improve policy and recognise and lead groups to attempt to reach NZ’s health goals (Public Health Workforce, n.d.).…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My passion to be a Nutritionist Oh, how I love food! I have always had a love for food the more the better. This overwhelming love led me to be overweight.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics