HOD Meeting Update-Fall 2011

Delegate Update: HOD Article Outcomes of the Fall 2011 HOD Meeting

Pat Harper, Weight Management DPG Delegate

November 3, 2011

The House of Delegates met in San Diego, September 23-24, for the 86th meeting of the House.  For the second year the HOD hosted the HOUSEwarming event where nearly 200 members to network.  New Delegates also participated in orientation to a House Meeting while Table Facilitators learned about the intricacies of each dialogue session.

Prior to the meeting, I solicited input from WM DPG members on Licensure and Interdisciplinary Teams issues, which were compiled and presented at the roundtable discussions. Those comments proved to be invaluable to our discussion and the resulting motions.

Two mega issues were discussed at the meeting: Licensure and Interdisciplinary Teams.   Friday morning’s dialogue session was focused on the mega issue of licensure.  This dialogue session began with testimonies from two delegates, Cindy Wolfram (Texas) and Lucille Beseler (Florida), regarding their state’s experience with licensure.  The importance of licensure to the future of dietetics was explored.  Meeting participants identified benefits, internal barriers and external threats to licensure.  Existing or potential resources for addressing each piece was discussed.  Key messages that could resonate with members, consumers, and legislators to communicate excitement, energy, value, and the desire to be engaged were crafted for use by Academy’s Strategic Communications Team and Policy Initiatives & Advocacy Team.  The dialogue concluded with each meeting participant determining strategies they will undertake to support the efforts of their state in establishing, strengthening and/or maintaining licensure.

Based on the dialogue, a series of guiding principles were identified (the list provided is not all inclusive):

  • Benefits of RD licensure include protection of the public, acknowledgment of the value by the consumer for the license including the services provided by the RD/DTR, opportunity for more referrals, job security and applicability to all areas of dietetics practice beyond Medical Nutrition Therapy.
  • Barriers of RD licensure include lack of funding for state licensure boards, lack of recognition of RD license by other health care providers, CDR credentialed practitioner apathy, lack of consumer and CDR credentialed practitioner knowledge about value of RD license, and inability to rapidly mobilize members.
  • Resources needed include multi-tiered national CDR credentialed practitioner education campaign, outcomes and cost-effectiveness data, web site focused on RD licensure, national database of harm to the public, and an educational toolkit (i.e., fact sheets, process for reporting harm to licensure boards, messaging focused on various audience).

Since the dialogue, the resulting motion was passed by the House.  Academy’s Policy Initiatives & Advocacy Team will be requested to develop a detailed plan of action for addressing Motion #1: Licensure.  Several pieces for the plan are specified in the motion, including messaging to be crafted jointly by Academy’s Strategic Communications Team and Academy’s Policy Initiatives & Advocacy Team.  All information collected during the Fall 2011 HOD Meeting will be provided to the Academy’s Policy Initiatives & Advocacy Team

The mega issue of interdisciplinary teams occurred Saturday morning.  The video, “Teamwork” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz8RfU4GQZo&feature=related) was shown to meeting participants.  Forces critical to or having the biggest impact on moving RDs/DTRs towards interdisciplinary teams were talked about.  Barriers and corresponding opportunities that exist for creating and being effective interdisciplinary team members/leaders were identified.  These items will be categorized as to those: already being done; fitting with the 2011 Future Connections Summit on Dietetic Practice, Credentialing and Education pilot initiatives; or might need to be further developed. 

Based on the dialogue, a series of guiding principles were identified (the list provided is not all inclusive):

  • Barriers identified include lack of skills (leadership, collaboration, negotiation, flexibility), institutional forces, lack of assertiveness and confidence, limited interdisciplinary teaming in dietetics education programs, and unwillingness or lack of opportunities to work in a team.
  • Opportunities that exist include utilizing technology, interdisciplinary team role modeling, utilizing preceptors to teach skills for participating in teams, mentoring of new RDs/DTRs to work in teams, and building on current relationships that exist.
  • Opportunities to create include involving local RD/DTR teams in community events, collecting data on effectiveness of interdisciplinary teams, developing interdisciplinary team resumes to promote value, offering educational activities for RDs/DTRs and other team members, and identifying key messages about the value of interdisciplinary teams.

Since the dialogue, the resulting motion was passed by the House.  Academy’s Professional Development Team will be requested to develop an action plan for addressing skill development related to interdisciplinary teams based on the HOD dialogue session outcomes. RDs/DTRs are encouraged to initiate participation on interdisciplinary teams to enhance services provided to customers and to promote and demonstrate the value of these teams.  All information collected during the Fall 2011 HOD Meeting will be provided to the Academy’s Professional Development Team.

Many updates were provided to HOD meeting attendees.  Trisha Fuhrman reviewed progress to date on achieving the goals of the House.  During the President’s Breakfast, Sylvia Escott-Stump, Academy President, spoke to House and affiliate leaders.  Cindy Wolfram reviewed the activities of the Academy Political Action Committee.  The Future Connections Summit purpose, outcomes and pilot initiatives were presented by Trisha Fuhrman, Nora Nyland and Elise Smith.  Jane Allendorf provided an overview of Individualized Supervised Practice Pathways (ISPPs) so that participants could become aware of the key features of ISPPs and of the procedures for answering questions.  As a result of a motion passed in the Fall 2008, Kathryn Camp, gave a status update of nutritional genomics in regards to the profession of dietetics.  Barbara Ivens and Katie Brown continued to keep the HOD informed of Academy Foundation activities.  Academy Treasurer, Mary Russell, reviewed the current status of Academy’s finances.  And lastly, diversity tools available to Academy members were reviewed by Cheryl Bittle with a summary by Annette Besnilian, Diversity Promotion Grant Recipient, of her diversity program model.

All materials related to Fall 2011 House of Delegates Meeting, including slides from various Association related updates and outcome materials, are located online for members: http://www.eatright.org/hod/meetingmaterials/ 

I was honored to represent the members of the Weight Management DPG at this meeting and during the voting process on the two Motions.  Based on the input I received from members, I voted in favor of both Motions. I will provide follow-up to these Motions as more information becomes available.