The PEN Team Was At The International Congress of Nutrition and Dietetics (ICND) 2024!

The PEN Global Team, including the British Dietetic Association, Dietitians Australia, and Dietitians of Canada, were so happy to join the International Congress of Nutrition and Dietetics (ICND) this month in Toronto, Canada! This year’s theme was Rise to the Challenge, and the PEN Team did this through a variety of activities, presentations and posters to show how we help dietitians use nutrition research to meet the complex demands of their daily practice. 

PEN Booth: The PEN team was ready to meet nearly 1,000 congress attendees at our interactive booth.  We had visitors from across the globe, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States! We spoke to frequent PEN users about how they get the most out of PEN and introduced the PEN System to new users.  We had a chance to also highlight resources from the British Dietetic Association. Thank you for visiting our booth!

Podium Presentations: Dawna Royall (PEN^® Senior Evidence Analyst) presented on nutrition strategies for managing symptoms of long COVID. This included the effectiveness of diet /nutrition support and vitamin D supplements as interventions for treating post COVID-19 syndrome and evidence for nutrition interventions for viral onset illnesses that are higher in post COVID-19 situations (e.g. myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome and postural orthostatic tachycardia).  The session generated a lot of interest and questions on other diets and nutrients being used by people to manage long COVID. For recommendations and references see:  COVID-19 and Nutrition Knowledge Pathway  

Jane Bellman (PEN^® Resource Manager) and Stephanie Krug from Alberta Health Services reviewed two multimedia examples (Raising Our Health Kids videos and Take a Multivitamin when Pregnant) to showcase how to apply best practices when developing food and nutrition consumer resources. 

Workshop: Jane and Stephanie provided more detailed information about health literacy and using plain language when designing user-centred client education resources the next day at a workshop. The audience could have ‘fun with words’ as they participated in several practical activities. For more information, see: Health Literacy Knowledge Pathway.                                                                         

Interactive ePoster sessions: Lisa Doerr (PEN^® Evidence Analyst) and Elizabeth Manafò (Manager, Knowledge Mobilization) shared their ePosters with ICND delegates to describe PEN’s processes to ensure we integrate the latest evidence into the PEN System and promote global collaboration for PEN users worldwide. Learn more about the latest evidence profiled in Are vitamin D and/or calcium supplements recommended for the prevention or treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD)? 

Thanks to everyone who joined our sessions and to our PEN users who support the System by using it in their everyday practice.

Thank you to our dietetic practicum students

Amanda Berger and Vianca Wagan are both dietetic graduate students in the Masters of Health Science in Nutrition Communication program at Toronto Metropolitan University. As part of their program’s practicum training, they completed their first placement with Dietitians of Canada (including the PEN^® System) between May and June 2024.

Amanda and Vianca packed a lot into their short time with us! During their six-week placement, they worked on many exciting projects with the PEN team, including contributing to PEN eNews, reviewing client handouts with the latest evidence on Sports Nutrition, and identified a trending topic about the common misunderstandings of antinutrients. Amanda and Vianca also supported the delivery of two PEN System presentations with dietetic programs in Canada, by showcasing how the PEN System can support students in their practical training and encouraging students to share how they see themselves using the System in their future practice. Their perspective and contributions have been so helpful in promoting the use and uptake of the PEN System and its knowledge products to dietitians globally.

That’s not all! Amanda and Vianca joined the International Congress of Dietitian-Nutritionists (ICND) in Toronto, Canada this past month. They supported the facilitation of an interactive session about 100 Ways Dietetics Could Be Different in the Future, highlighting innovative ideas about our profession from a global perspective. This event made a lasting impression on what it looks like to bring together a diverse community in the field of nutrition and dietetics who are passionate about what they do.

“From these projects, we improved our skills in writing clearly, critically appraising research, and collaborating effectively. We appreciate the warm welcome, consistent support, and the effort the PEN team at Dietitians of Canada put into making our first dietetic placement special and memorable.”

Partners come together to Discuss New Opportunities for the PEN System

Leading up to the International Congress of Nutrition and Dietetics (ICND) 2024, the PEN System's global team from Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom (known as the "G3"*) reunited in person for the first time in five years to strengthen efforts in positioning the PEN System as the ultimate global resource for nutrition practice. The widespread value of the PEN System across 190 countries is clear! More than ever, dietitians are relying on evidence to help them make informed practice decisions - many dietitians and nutritionists attending ICND shared the important role of the PEN System helping them feel confident in their practice and pointed to PEN's evidence-based process of assessing and critically appraising the evidence as a critical component to their practice. 

The group also discussed how the PEN System can enhance making evidence accessible, understandable, and useful in everyday practice by addressing barriers leading to the System's use in practice. This highlighted the importance of harnessing recent technology, including AI, to improve access to PEN System knowledge products, exploring features like audio and video to make learning engaging and help dietitians apply complex evidence more easily via mobile applications. Furthermore, advancements in knowledge translation require a closer look at better integrating co-design into evidence-based decision-making to ensure PEN content appropriately meets the needs of modern dietitians and nutrition professionals from diverse practice settings.  Advancing knowledge translation means actively engaging with PEN users to help shape knowledge pathway content, identifying new evidence and clinical guidance and ensuring content adaptation is suitable in local contexts.

The G3 is committed to exploring how the PEN System can better integrate current technology and modern knowledge translation principles. As the PEN System approaches its 20th year, this forward-thinking approach underscores the National Dietetic Association's commitment to supporting dietitians and nutrition professionals globally in using and exchanging knowledge effectively in their work. 

*The G3 is a collaborative partnership of the British Dietetic Association, Dietitians Australia and the Dietitians of Canada.