NUTR29008 - Food Service Practice

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will extend your knowledge of food composition, menu analysis, and dietary planning. You will learn about the challenges of food service systems and develop your critical thinking and problem solving skills in managing these challenges. You will undertake 4 weeks (20 days) of full-time supervised food service placement within a food service department of a government or non-government organisation. Placement opportunities will range from a clinical hospital setting to a community nutrition setting, such as Meals on Wheels. On placement, you will apply the theory and knowledge from your studies to real-world practice in the food service setting and become skillful in the management of food services. During your placement experience, you will safely and effectively extend your food composition, therapeutic administration and systems knowledge through the management of projects that address the food service management issues. These projects will develop your research, problem-solving, business management and professional skills as you work through the stages of project planning, implementation, outcome evaluation and synthesise the findings into a final report. Finally, you will also communicate your findings and make your recommendations to stakeholders on how they could improve an aspect of practice. Consequently, you will improve the delivery of medical nutrition therapy within established food services. Throughout this process, you will develop competency in the management of a food and nutrition service to a level of practice that is deemed suitable for an entry-level dietitian.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisite:

  • NUTR28001 Food and Nutrition Services in Dietetics
  • N6526 Dietetics Practice and Communication

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 3 - 2024

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 30%
2. Presentation 30%
3. Professional Practice Placement 30%
4. Reflective Practice Assignment 10%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

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Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Critically appraise and evaluate food service systems to provide safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate foods across healthcare settings
  2. Develop and critically reflect on approaches to improve food service management practice.
  3. Apply food service and nutrition management principles within a food service system
  4. Demonstrate professional practice as evidenced by adherence to ethics, industry codes, and professional communication

Learning outcomes of this unit are linked to the following domains of the 2021 Dietitian Association of Australia’s (DAA) National Competency Standards for Dietitians in Australia.
  • Domain 1: Professional Practice
  • Domain 2: Expert Practice
  • Domain 4: Collaborative Practice

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment • •
2 - Presentation • •
3 - Professional Practice Placement • •
4 - Reflective Practice Assignment • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Knowledge • • • •
2 - Communication • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • •
4 - Research • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • •
7 - Leadership •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8