Working in a Hospital Setting as a Clinical Dietitian

About

Name	Valerie Leung
Title	Clinical Dietitian
Company	BC Children + Women’s Hospital
Grad year	2023
Program	Bachelor of Science in Food, Nutrition and Health
Major	Dietetics

May 2, 2024 – Following graduation from the UBC Dietetics program in June 2023, Valerie Leung swiftly transitioned into the role of Clinical Dietitian at both Richmond Hospital and BC Children’s Hospital. From serving as the first-year representative to the Vice President Internal in the LFS Undergraduate Society (LFS|US), Valerie took particular advantage of early career leadership opportunities at LFS.

While preparing for the UBC Dietetics program, Valerie held a Work Learn role at LFS Student Services where she developed professional skills in areas related to communication, collaboration and event and program coordination. She also shadowed Registered Dietitians to gain insights into the skills and knowledge essential for success in the field. During an 8-month co-op term she gained experience interacting with hospital patients directly, and by completing an LFS 496 practicum at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at the UBC Farm, she strengthened her knowledge translation and health communication skills.

More recently, Valerie began working at the BC Children + Women’s Hospital as a Clinical Dietitian. Through a recent interview, Valerie shared more with us about her career journey and made note of some excellent tips students seeking admission to Dietetics could benefit from receiving.

What does a typical day look like for you while working as a Clinical Dietitian at BC Children + Women’s Hospital?

It typically starts with screening patients, reviewing charts and planning out what my day will look like. If I am working an in-patient ward, I may also attend rounds in the morning to meet with the interdisciplinary team. This is a good time to discuss any pertinent questions and get an understanding of the patient’s medical plan. If I am working in an outpatient setting, I also use this time to prepare for my clinic visits. The rest of the day comprises of patient assessments or follow ups and documenting those visits. Occasionally I have meetings with other dietitians for monthly roundtables and nutrition journal club so that I can stay connected with other colleagues in the profession and keep my practice up to date.

How did you access the opportunity to shadow dietitians and what did you learn through those experiences that’s helped you get to where you are?

I took advantage of email lists like Gerry’s List (managed by RD Gerry Kasten, one of the lecturers in LFS) and went to networking events run by the UBC Dietetics Student Community like Meet the Dietitians Night to get connected with dietitians before I eventually landed a couple of volunteering opportunities. Through various experiences working in social media and communications, I developed skills in nutrition communication, which has helped me greatly in facilitating 1-on-1 education and group workshops with my patients and clients now.

Reflecting on your journey, what significant changes did you make after your initial two applications to the UBC Dietetics program that led to your acceptance?

Let me start off by thanking the LFS academic advising team! Because the program isn’t able to offer feedback for your specific application due to the blinded process, speaking with the team and the LFS Career Strategist really helped me in that self-reflection process and motivated me not to give up. The major change after my initial applications was that I decided to take part in a co-op work term as a Research Assistant, which gave me a huge skill upgrade that matched key skills of the dietetics discipline. Working in a clinical patient-facing position (eventually during Covid) provided memorable experiences and stories that I could later share in my admission interview. Along with that, I continued to redevelop my written application and strengthened my interview skills in many practice sessions with friends.

You completed an LFS 496 practicum course. What was that like? How did that help develop your career?

Prior to entering the dietetics program, I was also passionate about sustainable food systems and wanted to gain more knowledge and experience in that area. A really cool opportunity came about to work with the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS) at the UBC Farm – not on the fields but in the role of communications! In that role, I interviewed research scholars, designed digital signage and printed material to raise community awareness of the farm, and took part in the Centre’s big website upgrade that year. Although you don’t need to know HTML or graphic design to be a dietitian, it certainly benefited me later in planning dietetic events and in my work now which involves a lot of professional writing.

How did your research experience at the hospital shape your choice to become a clinical dietitian?

After an enriching year in my co-op role, I was invited to stay on full-time with the company after graduation. However, upon receiving an offer to UBC Dietetics the following year, I chose dietetics because that was more connected to my goal to work on the frontline, and my passion for helping people make sense of complex nutritional concepts in order to live healthier through healthy eating.

Are there any resources you would like to recommend to students who care about nutrition and/or want to become Dietitians in the future?

Get acquainted with students in the dietetics program to learn about their experience; browse dietitians-run social media platforms to see how they make nutrition information fun and easily digestible; and expand your exposure to the different areas of dietetics (there are so many), so you can gain a better idea of what area you may enjoy working in the future – whether it’s food service, clinical nutrition, sports nutrition or something else.

What is your favourite place to eat on campus?

My favourite place to eat on campus would probably be Mercante because I love their pizzas (especially the one with a heaping amount of arugula)! On Wednesdays, my favourite place to eat is definitely the LFS Wednesday Night Dinners (WND) at Agora because you can’t beat the affordable, nourishing meals that the WND team whips up. It’s truly an awesome tradition that I have enjoyed in the past with my friends.