After purchasing the dietetic private practice at Taringa 7 Day Medical Centre in 2008, Fiona realized that private practitioner dietitians are often distanced from other dietetic professionals due to the solitary nature of their work. When starting out in private practice they often spend a lot of their time managing Medicare and health fund red tape, re-developing patient education materials, advertising and seeking referrals. This can mean that less time is available to be spent on keeping their clinical skills up-to-date. Also there can be the problems of inconvenience to the patient and referrers and gaps in service if the clinician is ill or chooses to take a holiday or have a maternity break. All reasonable things, but they do disrupt services provided by individual health professionals in private practice. The public was missing out on excellent practitioners by the sole fact that not all clinicians have the skills to market or manage a private practice effectively. And thus the concept of NutritionSense Dietitians was born – great clinicians, not weighed down by isolation or red-tape, and able to take well deserved leave when they need it without disrupting their clients.
It’s a win-win-win: happy clinicians, happy clients, and happy, confident referrers.
Fiona’s vision for NutritionSense Dietitians and Allied Health is to be a coordinated network of flexible Accredited Practising Dietitians, Speech Pathologists and Psychologists available for consultation across Brisbane, and at times to suit our busy lifestyles.
Over the next 12 months, Fiona is planning to expand her business to include more allied health professionals involved in food, eating and feeding, so that NutritionSense Dietitians and Allied Health becomes a virtual one-stop-shop, where your care is coordinated properly. For example, if your child is having feeding difficulties, you would see the dietitian to check that the foods offered and mealtime routines are appropriate, you might see the speech pathologist if swallowing or sensory issues are apparent, and you might see the psychologist if the child is fearful or if family dysfunction is contributing to the child’s eating problems. As all the clinicians have access to each other’s client plans, treatment is coordinated across all therapy types. Another example would be in the case of a person with binge-eating disorder – they would see both the dietitian and the psychologist regularly to lead them towards effective recovery.
The NutritionSense Dietitians at Taringa - Fiona Willer and Kate Dwyer
