A quick 3 tools to use today when you need to get better at nutrition counseling as a new dietitian.
Get Better at Nutrition Counseling Fast
It can feel like an uphill battle when it’s time to get better at nutrition counseling.
Knowing how to share clinical nutrition concepts with your patients isn’t something usually taught in school. And when you’re just starting out, it can be easy to feel like your confidence level is constantly challenged. Despite good communication being an essential skill for dietitians, there are also other necessary tools that will help you get better at talking to and supporting your patients.
Here are three quick ways to start preparing and then providing nutrition education to your patients, even when you’re not confident in clinical nutrition.
Let’s talk about them.
Get better at nutrition counseling: 3 tools to improve fast
There’s a lot of ways you can improve your clinical nutrition counseling skills. But sometimes, you just need a quick place to start when you want to have better conversations right now.
We’re going to quickly talk about three things that’ll immediately make sure you feel more confident every time you go in to do an education session. These are:
- Be prepared
- Have questions
- Accept readiness
They probably sound simple, maybe even kind of obvious. But don’t underestimate their ability to make or break conversations you’ll have with your patients.
When you’re not on top of each one, your job gets so much harder. So, let’s look at each one and make your life a little easier.
#1: Be prepared
Every time you walk into a patient’s room, you want to have some basic information in your hands.
This means you’ve got to be able to take whatever clinical and MNT knowledge you have available to you, understand what it means, and be able to share it with your patients.
So how do you prepare for that?
First, review the EMR.
The most important part of nutrition counseling is always going to be preparation. And the first step to be prepared is always going to be reviewing the EMR.
Every patient you see you’ll want to first:
- Know why your patient is in your care (their admitting diagnosis)
- What issues they’ve had in the past (their PMH)
- What information you want them (what stands out to you the most)
This is information you should have looked for every single time you meet with a new patient or client.
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Next, do your research.
There are going to be times when you don’t know everything you need to know in order to support your patient. Maybe there’s a medical condition you’ve never heard of. Maybe you can’t remember the MNT details of another condition.
All of that is ok. No one knows or remembers everything.
Your job is to do a little research and get a general sense of everything you’re not familiar with whether that’s a Google search of medications you’ve never heard of or a call to the doctor to clarify some lab results.
And of course, take notes so you don’t forget anything.
Then get your resources together.
As you’re gathering information on your patient and begin to understand the most acute nutritional issue, print out some resources that will support them when they start having questions.
Pull together a collection of patient education handouts that will help you explain the MNT they need to understand and prepare you to answer some of the questions they’ll likely have for you.
Keeping resources on hand is one of the best ways to stay ready. Whether you have a file on your computer with all your favorites, a pile on your desk of the ones you use the most, or simply gather the ones you need when the time comes. It’s always easier to have those handouts ready to walk through with your patient, rather than struggling to remember all the MNT on the spot.
Want more information on working with medical nutrition therapy? Check out these posts:
#2: Have questions ready
To get better at nutrition counseling, you’re going to also get better at asking questions.
Because it’s inevitable that you’re going to bump up against questions that don’t seem to have an answer. You’ve checked the chart. You’ve asked the medical team. You’ve done your research and you’re still stuck without an answer.
So what do you do? Write it down.
It might sound obvious, but it’s easy to think you’ll just remember that question when the time comes to see your patient. And it’s even easier to remember that same question ONLY when you’re sitting down to write a note and realize you don’t have the answer. Writing down the questions that come up as you’re researching each patient’s needs will make your life a whole lot easier.
This list of questions is going to serve two purposes.
- Those questions are great conversation starters
- You’ll make sure you don’t have any missing information when you’re crunched for time writing your notes
Conversation starters
When you’re learning how to be better at nutrition counseling, you’re going to find times when you don’t know what to say or what you should be talking about with a patient.
Sometimes this has nothing to do with you and happens when you have a patient who’s very quiet or disinterested. Talking to them is like pulling teeth.
Other times, you’ll find yourself so busy, so frazzled, so tired that you draw a blank when you’re finally face to face with your patient.
Both of these situations are normal and happens to us all. But when you feel like you have nothing to talk about, take out your list and start asking.
Missing information
Not everyone has a world class memory. Even less of us can remember essential information when your confidence is already in question.
Luckily in the real world, memorizing something is never more impressive than just having the information you need at your fingertips and immediately available.
There’s no shame or embarrassment in having to look something up. And when you have everything you need written down, you’re not adding unneeded extra pressure to your already sticky counseling session.
Writing out a list of questions before you see your patient means you’ll never be stuck with the pressure of having to remember anything off the top of your head. The same goes with having your patient education handouts in your back pocket. With both of these things easily available, you’ll immediately feel more prepared.
Bottom line: make your life easier and write everything down.
#3: Accept when your patient just isn’t ready
Just like there are times when you’re not going to know something, there’s also going to be times when your patient doesn’t want anything from you.
Maybe they aren’t interested, they don’t want to answer your questions, or want to share anything personal. Maybe they offer nothing during the conversation except to give you the answers they expect you want to hear.
While this is tough to deal with, it’s rarely your fault.
The fact is there will always be people who simply aren’t ready to make a change. It’s not your job to force someone into compliance or to spend all your energy talking them into wanting to do things you know are good for them.
Of course there are ways to encourage your patient to open up, start thinking about change, and maybe even get to the point where they set their own goals. But in an acute care setting, you rarely have the time to spend with each patient that will allow you to do this level of intense work.
This means it’s part of your job to meet your patients where they are. You can only work with them to learn the skills they’re ready to learn to support the health improvements they want to make.
Looking for a deep dive on clinical nutrition counseling? Check out the self-study program Nutrition Quick Chats.
When we’re starting out, it’s easy to feel as though our success as a dietitian rests directly on the success of our patients. And while this might be true in settings where you can pick and choose those interested clients who you work with, in acute care you will meet people at all readiness levels.
Instead of spending your energy trying to convince someone who doesn’t care about changing to change – accept their limits. Remind them they can always change their minds. Then move on and invest your limited time in someone who’s ready.
It’s better to be over prepared than underprepared for someone who’s really ready to hear what it takes to heal.
And That’s It!
This is a great place to start getting more comfortable using MNT in nutrition counseling.
Want even more to help in clinical?
Check out The Nutrition Cheat Sheets Shop for all the nutrition education and clinical resources that will make your life easier.
