There are No Passengers on Spaceship Earth. We Are All Crew1
As we get ready to relaunch PEN® eNews in a new format and with six more issues per year (!), I took a moment to reflect on some of our first eNews issues in 2011. Although they all provided updates on the latest nutrition evidence and new features in the PEN System, one article in particular “spoke to me”. Sharing it again, is a fitting way to acknowledge the remarkable international partnership that continues to power the PEN System, including our new PEN® eNews.
Globalization – love it or hate it, it impacts dietitians around the globe in small and big ways every day. Whether it be:
- staying abreast of new science and technology
- incorporating new nutrition knowledge or new food products into our practices
- respecting and understanding the health beliefs or food habits of new immigrants
- responding to global health threats such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, BSE and foodborne E. coli outbreaks
- contributing to or advocating for policies designed to ensure food security for all in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Recognizing it’s a big job and we are a relatively small profession, three dietetic professional associations from Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia set about creating a global nutrition resource for dietitians that would enable dietitians across the world to collaborate to advance knowledge, to share their resources and to lead the development of practice within their own countries and globally.
The PEN System remains the foundation for this exciting vision as the knowledge base and practice support tool for dietitians and nutrition professionals, providing accessible, affordable and sustainable products to support evidence-based practice.
This global collaboration remains strong and committed to:
Using our limited resources efficiently to create a shared and unique database that we continue to grow “faster, broader and deeper” with contributions from all three partners and users around the world.
Using the PEN System to promote evidence-based practice as outlined in the International Code of Ethics and Code of Good Practice.
Building capacity for evidence literacy and generation within National Dietetic Association partner organizations.
Challenging entrenched thinking to find innovative solutions.
Fostering international networking amongst dietitians.
Using those networks and the wisdom of crowds to solve many problems.
Enhancing the profile of the profession around the world.
Our PEN Global Partnership principles ensure an equitable partnership that builds on the strengths of all participants for the benefit of everyone. The partnership is built upon open communication with shared responsibility, accountability and decision-making. We are learning about and respecting the processes and legal systems within which we each have to work and recognizing that we may have different drivers or priorities.
The beneficiaries of the PEN global partnership are members of the dietetic association partners, their stakeholders and the dietetic profession as a whole.
As a global team we have developed many new skills and are learning all the time. This encompasses issues like how to effectively horizon scan across three continents, appreciating the many different ways we choose to describe a healthy diet and how to incorporate different Dietary Reference Values. We are also learning to overcome more everyday concerns such as the use of technology to meet across time zones, spelling and terminology differences and discovering a shared sense of humour/humor. These wonderful unexpected consequences of the partnership are ones which everyone who joins us can benefit from.
Our small, but mighty crew of PEN Team members (Staff, Contractors, Volunteers) continues to scan the evidence, appraise and synthesize it so you can use it in your practice wherever you are in the world. Just like Spaceship Earth, there are no passengers on the Evidence-Based Dietetic Practice Journey. We are all crew. Join us!
Adapted from an article originally published in PEN eNews:
Megan Alsford, Dietitians Association of Australia and Dietitians New Zealand
Sue Kellie, The British Dietetic Association
Jayne Thirsk, Dietitians of Canada
1Marshall McLuhan
September 2019 ·
Volume 9
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