Introductory Post

My name is Clara Tran. Just like it says on the sidebar, I am a second year student at the University of Alberta working towards a Bsc. Nutrition and Food Science. Currently, I am majoring in nutrition and minoring in physical activity. My reasons for studying these fields are relatively simple: while I love food, I also love staying physically active, so I hope to learn more about the impact that proper (or improper) levels of nutrition and physical activity can have on our lives.

In the future, I hope to be working as a registered dietitian in a clinical setting; if that is the case, I will undoubtedly have to interact with the public. While I have no doubt that clear communication skills will be useful in this situation, empathetic communication will be absolutely necessary. I say 'empathetic' because being clear with one's point is not always enough to ensure understanding - the individual with whom we are communicating must also be able to see how a piece of information is relevant to them. As professionals working in fields that are often very specialized, we may easily be able to grasp all of the associated jargon, but that may not be the case for the average individual.

For example, take a look at this image of L-Ascorbic acid (a Vitamin C isomer):

 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:L-Ascorbic_acid.svg)

If I were to show this to someone on the street and tell them that they needed this to prevent scurvy, they probably wouldn't understand what I meant; however, if I showed them an orange and said the same thing, their response would likely express some comprehension. The main idea here is that communication requires consideration for the other party's situation and/or background, and this is especially the case for dietitians providing advice to patients. For further emphasis, a registered dietitian fresh out of the University of Alberta once told me that "the first few years of our undergraduate studies [as nutrition students] are all about learning the gritty details that nobody else wants to get into...the funny thing is, our last year or so is all about learning how to dumb down what we've learned so that just about anyone can take our knowledge and apply it".

On a broader note, NCBI cited "interpersonal communication skill, nonverbal communication, professional values, and counseling skill" as the four major communication competencies used by dietitians in a study of how dietitians communicate with individual patients face-to-face. However, in the modern day, many individuals (dietitians and other professionals included) are heading online to not only keep their communication skills in good shape, but also to maintain their social networks. For instance, fellow classmate Danielle Becker uses Skype and Facebook to stay in touch with friends, and those are only two of the many forms of social media available to us.

Keep an eye on this blog for more ALES 204-related assignments!