Chapter 10: Crossing the Bridge: From Student to Professional

1. Chapter 10
Crossing the Bridge:
From Student to Professional

2. Characteristics of
Dietetics Professionals
• Importance of showing respect and concern
for other people
• Being knowledgeable and keeping current
with the latest research
• Adhering to strict ethical standards
• Commitment to the profession

3. Professional Advice
• Steps to making the transition from student to
professional:
– Define your career goals.
– Make a commitment to manage your future.
– Identify a mentor.
– Utilize networking opportunities.
– Take some risks.

4. You Are Entering a
Helping Profession
• Dietetics practice involves service.
• Respect, caring, and concern for people and
their value systems are basic to the concept of
professionalism.
• An understanding of individual differences, such
as gender, ethnicity, and religion, is also critical
for effective practice.

5. Lifelong Learning and
Professional Development
• Maintenance of competence is required
for professional practice.
• Each practitioner is responsible for
devising and implementing professional
development strategies.
• Professional Development Portfolio (PDP)
mandated by CDR.

6. Standards of
Professional Practice
• Set of defined statements of a dietetic
professional’s responsibility for providing
services, regardless or the setting, project,
case, or situation.
• The standards provide practitioners with a
systematic plan for implementing,
evaluating, and adjusting performance in
any area of practice.

7. Professional Ethics
• Code of Ethics for the Profession of Dietetics
• Provides an outline of the obligations of the
member of that profession to self, client,
society, and the profession
• Challenges all members to uphold ethical
principles, and establishes a fair system to
deal with complaints about members and
credentialed practitioners from peers and the
public

8. Commitment to the Profession
• Professional associations rely heavily on the
work of volunteers at all levels: local, state, and
national.
• Tangible benefits.
• Intangible benefits.
• The biggest drawback to active involvement in a
professional association is the time commitment
required.

9. Tips for Career Success
• Pyramid of Success: Coach John Wooden
• Characteristics for success:

10. Tips for Career Success
• John Wooden: 10 Qualities for Success
– Faith, through prayer
– Patience, good things take time
– Fight, determined effort
– Integrity, purity of intention
– Resourcefulness, proper judgment
– Reliability, creates respect
– Adaptability, to any situation
– Honesty, in thought and action
– Ambition, for noble goals
– Sincerity, keep friends

11. Tips for Career Success
• A positive attitude is a trait that successful
practitioners share.
• Many of these traits are developed, not
inborn.
• “Most of us are about as happy as we
make up our minds to be.” – Abraham
Lincoln