Georgia Cohoon

My time on placement in the NHS has been invaluable to my learning. Placement is where you learn the majority of your Dietetics knowledge and being able to use this in practice solidifies the hard work you put into your studies. 

I had a wide range of experience for my placements as my B placement was in a mental health trust working in Secure Inpatient Services and Eating Disorders, whilst my C placement was in a more clinical setting. I valued this diverse experience as I learned skills within the mental health setting which I couldn't have learned anywhere else, and I used these to improve my patient contact during my clinical placement. 

The feeling you get when a patient is grateful for your input is unmatched and really puts your hard work into perspective. They say you learn how to drive once you pass your test and I think this is very true for placement - the best way to learn is getting hands-on and taking every experience you can. It is also useful to know what you are most interested in for when you graduate - I was able to experience lots of different areas which I had never considered as a career path before but now am really enthusiastic about!

The support available from the university staff is also amazing - placement can be hard and it can be tiring but knowing that we can always talk to the staff was always very reassuring; especially as they have been in this exact position before! This made me enjoy placement even more and allowed me to push myself out of my comfort zone knowing I had someone external to go to for advice if needed. 

Overall, the Dietetics placements here at Newcastle University are fantastic and give you patient-facing experience from your first year, which really puts you ahead of the game in your people skills. This is something that drew me to Newcastle and is definitely a huge benefit of the course!