Video

Scene 7 The dietitian talks once again to her colleague

The scene takes place in the dietitian’s office after the diabetic clinic.

While watching the video, you will find it helpful to make notes about:

• • how the dietitian feels;
• • what she found satisfying and unsatisfactory about her consultation with the patient;
• • the ways in which her colleague supports her.

Some points to consider

• • What communication skills does the dietitian report using in her last patient interview?
• • What theoretical aspects of counselling are these related to?
• • How have the dietitian’s feelings and attitude changed towards the patient?
• • In what ways can a counselling approach be satisfying and challenging for the patient ?
• • How does the dietitian describe the way she handled the patient’s ambivalence towards the end of the interview? How does she think this helps the patient?
• • How does the dietitian maintain (i) the time boundary and (ii) the professional boundary?
• • How does she maintain her patient’s confidentiality while talking to her colleague? (This could be an issue for further discussion.)
• • What skills would you want to practise in your next patient interview?
• • How does Judy respond to Tamara during their discussion? In what way do you think this was supportive?
• • How could you get support for yourself?
• • How do you (could you) provide support to your colleagues?
• • What have you learned from this video? How will you use this learning?

For further reading, see Chapters 1, 11, 15 and 16.