Community Nutrition Interview Report

The interview with Paula McKeehan was in Stephenville, Texas. She is the instructor of the nutrition course that is required for the nursing program at Tarleton State University that my friend attends. I was able to contact her and set up a time to meet and interview her during her break. She has experience working in the community, hospital and private settings.

Paula McKeehan is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Baylor University and her Master’s Degree from Tarleton State University. She has experience as an FCS Agricultural Life Extension agent. Mrs. McKeehan has worked as a clinical dietitian and has worked in community nutrition with the Texas WIC program. As I interviewed Mrs. Mckeehan, I

Today, one of her student groups went to an outpatient setting to educate the older patients how to create meals that would be easy to make yet would contain good nutrients. She told me about one of her graduating students who was majoring in agriculture, but was continuing her education in the field of dietetics. Her interests include general Medical Nutrition Therapy, Community Nutrition and Nutrition Education. Sustainable nutrition and consumer behaviors are her roles within the department. The least favorite part about her job is the paperwork and the fact that students do not take advantage of the opportunities that are given to them. She finds this job to be rewarding because she gets the opportunity to see people make changes. Mrs. McKeehan, meets her continuing education requirements by taking advantage of the online classes. She also attends webinars and is part of professional affiliation, such as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Advice she would give to students is to take advantage of the opportunities given to them. If she had to do his all over again, she would have continued and finished her masters as soon as she finished her first degree instead of taken

Another thing I learned was that as a Registered Dietitian, the job availability increases because some of the positions require certain credentials that only Registered Dietitians have. If I were a Registered Dietitian working in a hospital setting, I could work specifically with intensive care unit patients or just with outpatient patients. I had always thought that a Registered Dietitian would work for the whole hospital and did not work for only a specific unit. Also, that Texas Christian University offers the Registered Dietitian program and it includes the internship hours in a four-year degree. I did not know that some universities offered the Master’s Degree while starting/completing internship hours. I also learned that there still are some professionals that care for the wellbeing of others unlike some professionals that are only in their field to have a good pay. Meeting with Mrs. McKeehan helped open my eyes to how the profession of dietetics is different than that of many I know of. Unlike most, this field requires you to have completed the bachelor in order to start the internship hours. I learned the importance of having people like Mrs. McKeehan in universities. She not only teaches courses that students would be required to take, but also does private practice at the university to help students. By applying the knowledge of proper nutrition into