You may have noticed that we have had a bit of a change around with the forum titles and descriptions. This is because we felt some forums were too quiet and some descriptions were a little long winded.
Hope you like the new layout!
Re: Change Around!
ciara
15-08-2007 05:06
yup, yup. its been a bit quiet. either everyones to busy or not enough people know about the site.
Re: Change Around!
ava
15-08-2007 05:07
Or that people in our profession are not good at using the internet (on the whole)
You may feel I'm a cynic especially considering CPD is an essential requirement for Dietitians and Registered Nutritionists
Re: Change Around!
jedi
15-08-2007 05:11
think this forum is a great idea, but would be better if more people knew about it. That way we would get more discussion going on topics.
Other professions have similar discussion forums (forae???) which are used regularly (am thinking in particular of Doctors.net) and prove invaluable to professionals who are working alone, or who don't always want to pick up the phone to their collegues for the answer to a question. Its an excellent way of getting a range of thoughts on topics and also a way of getting some support or advice which can be more objective than that offered by your own department.
Re: Change Around!
keane
15-08-2007 05:13
I completely agree with oatcake! I've noticed that this site seems to be more regularly frequented by students than practising dietitians. Perhaps a feature in the BDA newsletter (or similar publication)would be good. I know there is a forum on the BDA website but this is for members only.
Perhaps the site would be more attractive to users if there was a CPD section, where we could log our CPD online and save it, in the same way as SALTs can log thiers through their professional body.
Re: Change Around!
joyride
15-08-2007 05:13
There will be an ad in Network Health Dietitians next month - this should help.
However in the early days we did promote the forum, but as a profession dietitians seem to be a 'barrier' to internet forums, despite the fact that CPD is essential.
tamsin - expand on your CPD section idea please - not sure I fully understand....
Re: Change Around!
mike
15-08-2007 05:16
I've always thought it would be nice if there was some kind of online page/site that dietitians could log their CPD. At the moment everyone in our department does their own thing which means evidence of CPD is stored in A4 folders. Personally, I feel this looks messy and can be quite cumbersome to carry around.
It would be nice if there was a page or site that gave templates or ideas to promote online logging of reflective pieces or ways which we could save our contributions on forums like this. After all, this is shared practice and continuous learning....but we (or maybe just me!) don't seem to be keeping a record of it.
Does this clarify things a little better?
If not, let me know!
Re: Change Around!
ava
15-08-2007 05:17
Interesting idea. Things like this though would have a notable cost behind them in construction, database, software and bandwidth, and so there would need to be some sort of income generation idea behind it in order to make it worthwhile
Re: Change Around!
estralla
15-08-2007 05:18
Surely this is something the BDA would be interested in for its members who pay subscription fees? I think its part of the SLT's equivalent professional body.
Re: Change Around!
danica
15-08-2007 05:20
U could include it in your portfolio for the HPC - after all we seem to be able to include what we like lol.
Dietitians are generally wary of using new tech - we need to embrace it all - there was ahuge debate some months ago about txt patients - i reckon if i didnt would never get my athletes attention!
Word of caution tho got into a heated deabte with a guy on a diabetes message board on aol we did exchange emails and on a mail i put my mob no by mistake - he thought it was my hpc no and tried to report me - i hadnt done anything just
disagreed with him!!
Re: Change Around!
emerson
15-08-2007 05:26
I think you may have hit in on the head there with your diabetes forum experience. My reluctance to get involved on an open dietetics discussion board has little to do with being wary of new technology. It's more concern about what I say being taken the wrong way and potentially used against me.
It's one thing to be violently flamed online for diagreeing with someone over a hobby, it's entirely another to be reported to your manager or the HPC for something you have posted.
Which is a real shame because discussion forums are wonderful for networking and my original decision to train as a dietitian came out of my experience with an online patient support group. It would have been wonderful to have had a trained dietitian on hand there.
Re: Change Around!
tallan
15-08-2007 05:27
hi - I dont know why dietitians dont talk more - this used to be a very open profession. the bda website is ok but there are a few of the twin set and pearls brigade on there who only appear when someone says something out of the ordinary. We need more debate on there and here. I dont even think its an age thing either because alot who contribute are not newly qualified. It is useful for new graduates to ask questions!
Re: Change Around!
lanod
15-08-2007 05:29
I must say that I have a lovely twin set and stunning set of pearls.
As someone who has always been IT orientated I was amazed when I was a Dietitian few used computers with any degree of skill. I do wish more would embrace the 'net in particular as the profession could benefit far more from a wider use.
Re: Change Around!
ciara
15-08-2007 05:30
The good news is that all new graduates will come out very familiar with the internet as the course is very geared towards evidence based practice these days.
Most literature is accessed via online databases, not to mention heavy use of information on sites such as the department of health for NSFs etc, Cochrance, Clinical Evidence and the Food Standards Agency.
Maybe there should be a recruitment drive from the IT industry. I'm sure that there are lots of people in IT who would love to retrain as dietitians, but unfortunately the means tested bursary system puts it out of the reach of most professionals.
Re: Change Around!
mike
15-08-2007 05:31
To be perfectly honest I don't know how people managed in the days before the internet! It is so much easier to get info now, just a quick search and there you are - up to date evidence. How can people still be shy of using it?
Re: Change Around!
jedi
15-08-2007 05:33
Can I just ask why paediatrics and mental health are bunched together as one topic? They seem quite different to me. Also wondering why they come under nutritional support rather than other areas? Maybe I'm just being dumb
Re: Change Around!
emerson
15-08-2007 05:36
Fair question, but it's simply because after 4 years both forums had so very few posts. Having few posts in a section doesn't look good.
