14 – 15 November 2019 – IMU Division of Nutrition & Dietetics organised its first ever continuous professional development (CPD) workshop on the loops and ropes in obtaining accreditation for healthcare dietetics and food services. This workshop was well-attended by local and international professionals consisting of dietitians, chef, food server, catering executive, educators and managers. The objective was to address the main challenges and barriers of several key accreditation and standards related to healthcare dietetics and food services which the participants need to prepare before, during and after the process of getting the accreditation. Halal requirement and the certification processes involved for the healthcare kitchen was included as part of the programme. The workshop was conducted by highly experienced speakers and facilitators from IMU, National Heart Institute and Ministry of Health including Mary Easaw, Datin Stella Ainun bte Abdullah, Mastari Mohamad, Mustaffa Mohd Noor, Ng Ai Kah and Dr Yang Wai Yew. They shared hands-on experiences and valuable perspectives in their journey obtaining and achieving their accreditation namely Halal, HACCP, MSQH and JCI.
Throughout the lecture sessions, participants gained and exchanged knowledge. During their group activities, the participants were required to put on their thinking caps in developing an appropriate standard operating procedure (SOP), work instruction (WI) and guidelines based on selected accreditation/standards in the proposed topic they had chosen relevant to their workplace. Each group presented their assignment and obtained direct feedback which enabled best practices learning among the participants. Aside from a Certificate of Attendance, every participant was invited to attempt the post-test questionnaire and those who passed, was issued the Certificate of Completion.
| Coming from the wide range of work experiences, the participants shared: |
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| “The workshop has relevant discussion which is practical and inspiring” |
| “They had good hands-on session” |
| “The workshop was well-organised throughout the planning and delivery with the selected relevant topics towards the participants’ needs” |
| “The sharing of information is helpful for bench-marking best practices” |
| “The content is good and useful for us to tighten our processes and procedures” |
| “I just worked for a year and I lack experience. With this workshop, the experiences shared by the speakers were beneficial in expanding my knowledge and vision on the real life” |
The organising team, led by Dr Yang Wai Yew, extends their gratitude to IMU ICL and IMU Division of Nutrition and Dietetics for their kind support and preparation for the event. Following the success of this event, the Division will continue to offer relevant, up-to-date, and insightful topics in the CPD series in the forthcoming years.
Written by Kelly Num Sze Fang and edited by Dr Yang Wai Yew.
