HISTORY
M.Sc Clinical Nutrition is started during the academic year 2016-2017 on 1st July 2016. The program is designed to equip the students with scientific information on nutritional and metabolic care and the relationship between nutrition in health and disease. The program will equip the student with the tools and skills required to promote the nutrition and wellbeing of individuals and groups in variety of settings. Unique feature of this course is six months internship in reputed hospitals under the guidance of a Registered Dietician.
The primary role of a clinical dietician is to design nutrition programs to improve or maintain the health of patients. These programs may be short-term, such as to ensure that proper nutrition is delivered to an accident victim until full healing has occurred. Or they may be long-term for patients with diabetes, kidney disease or old age conditions that affect proper nutrition. A clinical dietician is often at the center of the interactions between doctor, patient and the staff of the facility in which care is administered. The course prepares the candidate to be competent to work as:
- Clinical Dietician
- Sports Nutritionist
- Public health Nutritionist
- Nutrition Educator
- Wellness Consultant
- Personal Nutritionist
Objectives
The aim of the course is to provide scientific training that encompasses all aspects of the nutritional and food sciences and, at the same time, to develop the skills and attitudes required for working in the broad field of Clinical Nutrition. It aims to give future Dieticians a broad understanding of the basic Food Science, Nutrition, Dietetics, Public Health, Nutritional Education and Food Service Management.
- Being familiar with nutrients, their function in an organism, bioavailability, requirements and recommended quantities, as well as the bases of energetic and nutritional balance.
- Examining and evaluating the relationship between food and nutrition in health and/or illness.
- Applying scientific knowledge of physiology, pathophysiology, nutrition and food to individual or group diet planning and counselling, both in healthy (dietetics) and ill (diet therapy) clients, at every stage of life.
- Designing and carrying out health status assessment protocols, and identifying nutritional risk factors.
- Interpreting a nutritional diagnosis, evaluating nutritional aspects of a clinical record and implementing a dietary treatment plan.
- Understanding the structure of food services, nutrition departments and hospital nutritionists, and identifying and developing the functions of a nutritionist-dietician in a multidisciplinary team.
- Participating in the organisation, management and implementation of various food provision regimes, hospital nutritional support services and ambulatory dietetic-nutritional treatments.
- Being familiar with national and international health organisations, as well as different health systems, and the role of the dietician-nutritionist in these systems.
- Being able to participate in health promotion activities and in the prevention of disorders and diseases associated with nutrition and lifestyles by carrying out food and nutrition educational activities.
- Collaborating in the planning and development of food, nutrition and food safety policies based on the needs of the population, while safeguarding health.
- Assessing the development, commercialisation, labelling, advertising and marketing of food products in accordance with social needs, scientific knowledge and applicable laws.
- Preparing, negotiating and monitoring the planning of menus and diets adapted to the characteristics of their recipients.
- Providing proper hygienic/sanitary and dietetic/nutritional training to personnel involved in catering.
- Acquiring the basic training needed for research, being able to formulate hypotheses and knowing how to collect and interpret information needed to resolve problems using scientific methods.
- Understanding the importance and limitations of scientific thinking in the fields of health and nutrition.
- Recognising the essential elements of the profession of dietician-nutritionist, including ethical principles, legal responsibilities and professional practices by applying the principles of social justice to professional practice with respect for people and their customs, beliefs and culture.
- Practicing the profession with respect for other health professionals by acquiring relevant teamwork skills.
- Recognising one's limitations and the need to maintain and update professional skills, with particular emphasis on the continuous autonomous acquisition of knowledge about new products in the field of food and nutrition, and having the motivation to maintain professional excellence.