Kent State Interns

Importance of Clinical Leadership in the Hospital Setting A review published in the Journal of Healthcare Leadership explores the concept of clinical leadership and its effect on patient care. The need for clinical leadership is ever-growing, as health care systems are expanding rapidly. The clinical level is the connection between the system and the patient and is where the patient develops their perceptions of the organization. ¹   While no standard definition of clinical leadership exists, experts found that research defines leaders in the hospital setting to have a variety of characteristics. These include the ability to make changes, being vision and value driven, or being a leader in a specific situations. ¹    It was also concluded that clinical leadership is not limited to those in superior position, but at any level of a healthcare team. Researchers found in numerous studies that effective clinical leadership promotes quality improvement and safety. Be...

Dietitians and Social Media             In the 21 st century the internet has skyrocketed creating social media, a cyberspace output for communication, which has now become the foundation in American society providing real-time communication for people across the globe at a convenience to its users. Popular social media sites such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and others has quickly changed the way people communicate with each other, receive news, promote brands, and debate issues and has seemingly outdating conventional styles of communication in the process (ie. Telephone, fax, and face-to-face communication).             This trendy marketplace provides a great deal of opportunity for dietitians in the field to promote and share science-based nutrition information, address and correct food and nutrition related misinformation, convey p...

Workplace Perception Study May Help Dietetic Managers Retain Staff A challenge many dietetic managers face is staff retention. The ability to identify factors their employees consider important in workplace satisfaction may be key to retaining dietitians. A recent study published in Nutrition & Dietetics, the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia, was able to identify five sources of value that dietitians seek to find in their workplace. Researchers conducted 32 interviews with clinical dietitians from 11 different hospitals in New South Wales. Questions asked sought to determine each person's motivation for career choice, personal values, opinions on their career, perception of their work quality, and career vision. Analyzing the interviews using a grounded theory approach, the results were grouped into five themes. It is these themes which dietitians find value and validation of their jobs. These themes included acquisition of knowledge, relationships with ...

            In this article from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) it focuses on the importance of implementing ethical decision making. Managers today are faced with a variety of situations and they are expected to make ethical choices when handling problems. A managers leadership style also plays a role in the decision making process. Managerial decisions can impact how coworkers view and trust their managers as well as the safety of patients or clients in the practice. Managers must utilize their ethical training when performing tasks, developing relationships, and making changes within an organization.              The academy has created its own Code of Ethics that managers can use as a guideline. It contains a three factor approach for making ethical decisions. Which include task, relations, and change. Task focuses on what should be understood in certai...

This Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics study looks at defining the clinical nutrition manager’s (CNM) responsibilities in managing human and financial resources. This also includes determining educational needs and provides a “demographic profile for practicing CNMs.”   89% of participants reported being very involved in the management of human resources, especially with motivating staff and “identifying non-compliant behavior of staff.”    Looking at the less frequently done tasks, few CNMs reported spending time creating job descriptions for their staff.   The self-reported competency level was 23.7% competent, 46.5% proficient, 29.8% expert.   A major reason for the difference in task frequency is varying hospital sizes where the CNM works.   In summary, the results showed the most common job responsibilities are managing clinical operations, providing leadership to clinical nutrition services and/or foodservice operations, motivat...

            Have you ever visited a supermarket and asked yourself, “Why are there so many options? Where does all the unsold food end up?”   These questions have recently become part of a world-wide dialogue regarding food waste.   Food waste, or the disposal of food appropriate for human consumption, has reached staggering heights as 850 million metric tons of food is wasted annually in the United States.   While food waste can occur anywhere along the food supply chain, retail and wholesale stores and their managers are key to addressing this issue.             The business goals of stores are to provide a wide variety of products and product availability, while minimizing the financial burden and complying with legal regulations.   Large inventories result in the inevitable repurposing of food for charities, animal feed, and, most commonly, disposa...

In a world dominated by men, the woman’s path to managerial, supervisory, and ownership roles has been slow and rocky, with only about 15% of women holding positions at the director level or above.   Historically, leadership roles for women in the hospitality industry were sparse with limited opportunity for promotion; however, perceptions are beginning to change and a light has appeared at the end of the tunnel. In an effort to enhance performance, corporations are beginning to ask, “How does the gender of those in supervisory roles affect customer ratings of restaurant appearance and food safety performance?”   With a precedent that women have been traditionally more attune to engaging in cleanliness practices and food safety behaviors, such as hand washing and equipment sanitation, and the knowledge that consumers equate clean bathrooms with clean and safe kitchens, corporations are looking critically at the potential need for a gender shift in the industry. ...