My rotation through the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) clinic effectively meets learning outcome three as I was able to see families from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and understand how their backgrounds affect their understanding of food and nutrition, access to nutritious foods, and an overall healthy lifestyle. The rotation turned out to be a vastly different experience than I was expecting. Although a family member of mine once received WIC assistance, I had little prior knowledge of the program. During orientation, I learned the purpose of WIC; how individuals may qualify for assistance; and the various types of food packages available. It was not until I was in the actual clinic, however, that I was able to integrate all of this knowledge into practical application. My first day in the clinic was spent shadowing clients through the process of checking in, going to the lab, receiving nutritional counseling, and finally picking up their vouchers. The rest of the week was devoted to allowing me the opportunity to counsel and educate clients regarding nutrition appropriate for their situation. Though I was not able to counsel as much as I expected due to language barriers, I was able to assist with counseling pregnant women, women with newborns, and women with multiple children. Each situation was unique and nutrition information had to be tailored to both the mother and children based upon their stage of pregnancy or age, respectively.
This rotation taught me a great deal about myself regarding my interest in public health as well as my capabilities in this particular setting. I had not considered public health to be an area of dietetics that I was interested in prior to completing the WIC rotation; however, I enjoyed my time spent in the clinic and found the work to be both enjoyable and satisfying. I quickly realized that I would need to learn Spanish if ever I wished to work in a WIC setting or likely in public health in general. Although I would have liked to have been able to counsel more clients, the experience of sitting in with the dietitians while they counseled Spanish speaking clients was profitable for me as I was able to begin understanding typical questions and answers that come up during the session. I was also given the opportunity to attend a conference regarding the upcoming changes in the WIC program that will begin in October. During the meeting, changes to the food packages and how vouchers will reflect these changes were discussed. Being able to sit in on this meeting was beneficial to me having just completed my rotation through the clinic as I was able to understand the need for food package changes on a deeper level.
In addition to clinical work, I was assigned a project to complete and present to the clinic staff. This project was to be presented as a Lunch and Learn PowerPoint presentation on a subject of my choosing that was relevant to the staff at WIC. For this assignment, I chose to present an article from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association entitled “Food Insecurity Among Low-Income First-Time African-American Mothers” (Laraia B, Borja J, Bentley M; 2009). This article studied factors affecting food insecurity in this population including demographics, education level, and presence of other household members. Because WIC staff members see a large number of low-income first-time African-American mothers and because the women in this study were recruited specifically from WIC clinics, I knew this article would contain relevant, practical information enabling them to incorporate new principles into their work. For the presentation, I prepared a PowerPoint slideshow of the highlights of the information contained in the article. The presentation was designed to last approximately 30 minutes and allow for a fifteen minute question and answer session. In addition to the presentation, I prepared an agenda with learning objectives and a post-test to evaluate my effectiveness in communicating those learning objectives. Following the presentation, each staff member completed the post-test and returned it to me in order for me to complete analysis and evaluate my presentation. In reviewing the post-tests, I found that each staff member was able to correctly answer each question, therefore, the learning objectives outlined on the agenda were met and I consider my presentation of the material a success.
This rotation taught me a great deal about myself regarding my interest in public health as well as my capabilities in this particular setting. I had not considered public health to be an area of dietetics that I was interested in prior to completing the WIC rotation; however, I enjoyed my time spent in the clinic and found the work to be both enjoyable and satisfying. I quickly realized that I would need to learn Spanish if ever I wished to work in a WIC setting or likely in public health in general. Although I would have liked to have been able to counsel more clients, the experience of sitting in with the dietitians while they counseled Spanish speaking clients was profitable for me as I was able to begin understanding typical questions and answers that come up during the session. I was also given the opportunity to attend a conference regarding the upcoming changes in the WIC program that will begin in October. During the meeting, changes to the food packages and how vouchers will reflect these changes were discussed. Being able to sit in on this meeting was beneficial to me having just completed my rotation through the clinic as I was able to understand the need for food package changes on a deeper level.
In addition to clinical work, I was assigned a project to complete and present to the clinic staff. This project was to be presented as a Lunch and Learn PowerPoint presentation on a subject of my choosing that was relevant to the staff at WIC. For this assignment, I chose to present an article from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association entitled “Food Insecurity Among Low-Income First-Time African-American Mothers” (Laraia B, Borja J, Bentley M; 2009). This article studied factors affecting food insecurity in this population including demographics, education level, and presence of other household members. Because WIC staff members see a large number of low-income first-time African-American mothers and because the women in this study were recruited specifically from WIC clinics, I knew this article would contain relevant, practical information enabling them to incorporate new principles into their work. For the presentation, I prepared a PowerPoint slideshow of the highlights of the information contained in the article. The presentation was designed to last approximately 30 minutes and allow for a fifteen minute question and answer session. In addition to the presentation, I prepared an agenda with learning objectives and a post-test to evaluate my effectiveness in communicating those learning objectives. Following the presentation, each staff member completed the post-test and returned it to me in order for me to complete analysis and evaluate my presentation. In reviewing the post-tests, I found that each staff member was able to correctly answer each question, therefore, the learning objectives outlined on the agenda were met and I consider my presentation of the material a success.