Table 7 Academic staff and Work/internship Supervisors' Perceptions on the Knowledge and Skills Required of HN/HND Graduates
Knowledge and Skills Domain | Illustrative quotes | |
|---|---|---|
Required of Nutrition and Dietetics Professionals in Uganda | Knowledge and Skills Gaps | |
Agribusiness | “Crop management, backyard farming …” | |
Medical/clinical nutrition therapy | “How to apply diet therapy to correct or manage abnormalities …” “Dietetic management of some disease conditions …” “Prevention of overweight and obesity …” “Special preparation food skills for various age groups and health conditions …” “Assessment, categorization, and management of patients using therapeutic feeds …” “Dietary recommendations for specific age groups …” | “Clinical care and support for clients …” “Most lack the ability to manage a client in the absence of a medical officer …” “Nutrition management of non-communicable diseases …” “Inability to make a proper diagnosis of a disease … and manage it dietetically …” |
Nutrition computing | “Use of technology …” “Basic computing …” “Data analysis …” | “Inadequate exposure to the use of modern technology …” “Statistics was not well mastered …” |
Maternal, infant, young child, and adolescent nutrition | “Integrated management of acute malnutrition; infant and young child feeding … nutrition assessment, counselling, and support …” “Infant and young child feeding …” | “Infant and young child feeding …” |
Leadership & Management | “Team working skills, good interpersonal, … organizational skills” “Critical thinking …” “Ability to execute … duties with minimum or no supervision” | “Lack of leadership and governance skills …” “Conflict management, negotiation skills, strategies to boost and sustain the performance of the organization and its employees …” |
Communication, education, and counselling | “Nutrition education and counselling …” “Facilitation skills since they are working with people …” “Communication skills … but also need skills that are more specific to behavioural change” “Nutrition education and advocacy …” | “Communication skills, interpersonal skills …” “Confidence talking to the public …” “Education session planning and implementation” “Inability to effectively communicate with clients …” “Development of IEC materials …” “Presentation skills …” |
Nutrition screening and assessment | “Nutrition assessment …” “Nutrition assessment i.e. anthropometry, biochemical, clinical, and dietary assessment for all people …” | “Nutrition assessment …” |
Project planning, management, monitoring, and evaluation | “Planning, budgeting, policy formulation and dissemination, nutrition governance …” “Understanding of multi-sectoral nutrition programming …” “Project implementation …” | “Monitoring and evaluation …” “Project planning …” “Budgeting …” “Writing bidding proposals for organizations …” |
Research, Proposal, & Report writing | “Research both field-based and laboratory-based …” “Data analysis and report writing …” “Analytical skills to be able to carry out research and analyse different problems …” “Data collection, statistical analysis, and interpretation …” | ‘Proposal writing …” “General research knowledge …” “Report writing and data collection …” |
Product development and food safety management | ‘Quality control analysis …” “Food safety in nutrition …” “Food standards and laws …” | |
Professional Ethics | “Ethics and professionalism …” | “Work ethics, Client management …” “Ethics and professionalism …” |
Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathology, Biochemistry | “Anatomy …” “Drug prescription with minimal reliance on medical doctors …” “Understanding of the relationship between foods and the blood system …” “Pharmacy and pathology …” “Biochemistry and food microbiology …” | “Linking nutrition and body system functions …” “Anatomy and physiology …” |
Laws, policies and regulations | “Knowledge and skills of key policies and guidelines that guide nutrition …” | “Nutrition policy and legislation …” |