DSC Case Study: How Zara Turned Her Clinical Practice Around with Dietitian Success Center

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To help dietitians across various practice areas see the value of DSC, we developed fictional RD personas that showcase how DSC supports dietitians in diverse roles. While these personas are inspired by real dietitian experiences, all client and dietitian information is entirely fictional.

Meet Zara, a 30-year-old clinical dietitian working in a busy Trauma 1 hospital in Denver, Colorado. With 3 years of experience under her belt, Zara treats patients with a wide variety of medical conditions including, but not limited to cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes. While she’s been feeling great over the past year, her career didn’t start out smoothly…

Before Zara decided to invest in Dietitian Success Center (DSC) using her professional development stipend, she found herself staying an hour late every day without being paid, struggling to prepare for her patient consultations and finish charting. She felt unfulfilled, overwhelmed, and like an imposter in her job. 

That all changed after she started using DSC. Now, Zara saves time, feels more confident in her skills and knowledge, and knows and feels she is genuinely making a difference in her patients’ lives.

A Morning Case: Miguel

Today, Zara’s first patient visit is going to be with Miguel, a 48-year-old man admitted two days ago with complaints of right upper quadrant discomfort, fatigue, and malaise. Initial blood tests revealed elevated liver enzymes (AST and ALT > 40 IU/L), and an abdominal ultrasound showed signs of hepatic steatosis. He was diagnosed with MASLD (Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease, formerly NAFLD). Miguel also has type 2 diabetes, which remains relatively uncontrolled, and a BMI of 32. 

Preparing with DSC Tools

In the past, Zara would have spent an hour or more researching nutrition therapy for MASLD, leaving her feeling exhausted and underprepared. But now, with DSC, Zara logs in and navigates directly to the MASLD/NAFLD Toolkit. She reviews the Evidence Summary, focusing on the key nutrition therapy recommendations for Miguel’s condition. This preparation takes just a few minutes, and saves Zara about 20 minutes of independent research, attempting to find what’s most important to focus on, and boosts her confidence as she heads into the consultation.

The Patient Consultation

During the consult, Zara notes a few key dietary patterns that the DSC MASLD Evidence Summary highlighted:

  • Miguel consumes an excess amount of sugar-sweetened beverages like soda and fruit juice.
  • His diet is high in saturated fat from processed and fried foods.
  • He likely doesn’t consume enough fiber on most days, lacking fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

 

Zara discusses realistic swaps with Miguel- all of which she found on DSC, like replacing sugary drinks with fruit-flavored water or unsweetened teas and incorporating more fiber-rich foods such as beans and whole grains. By drawing on the resources from DSC, Zara feels confident that she’s providing evidence-based recommendations tailored to Miguel’s needs, goals, and overwhelm.

Providing Tailored Resources

After the consult, Zara returns to DSC to access Spanish-language handouts that align with the nutrition advice she gave after learning he prefers reading in Spanish. She wants to select 3 so that he focuses his time on limited goals without getting overwhelmed:

These materials will help Miguel understand and follow through on the changes they discussed. The handouts are ready-to-use, plain-language, and visually-appealing – saving Zara 15-20 minutes she would have spent translating, creating on her own, or using from outdated sources.

Referring to Outpatient Care

Before closing Miguel’s chart, Zara refers him to the outpatient dietitian for ongoing support and writes a note on what she believes he should work on next. She knows Miguel will need more guidance as he continues his health journey, but she’s confident she’s set him up for initial success.

From Overwhelm to Confidence

Since using DSC, Zara has completely transformed the way she practices. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and staying late at work, she now leaves on time, knowing she’s given her patients the best care possible. By using evidence-based resources and getting access to the most important information she needs quickly, she no longer feels like an imposter in her role.

She reflects on how much more confident she feels in her consultations. “Before DSC, I was doubting my abilities and constantly playing catch-up. Now, I feel like I’m actually supporting my patients and have the tools I need to do my job well,” Zara says. 

Thanks to DSC, Zara saved over at least 30 minutes in prep time today on this patient alone, and she feels empowered, productive, and fully capable of helping her patients. Now, Zara can easily dive back into her latest read, The Song of Achilles, later tonight after making a new recipe she found and finishing her evening trail run!

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