UNAIR NEWS – Two nutrition students of Universitas Airlangga Faculty of Public Health, Ayu Sabila Fitriannisa and Anisah Firdaus Rahmawati, successfully bagged the First Prize in Nutrition Indonesian Competition (Nutricom) in the Dietetic Contest category. The competition was held by Politeknik Negeri Jember on Saturday, August 8, 2022.

They managed to solve the clinical nutrition case according to the Standardized Nutrition Care Process (PAGT) in just eight hours, while it generally needs weeks to finish the case problem. During the competition, the UNAIR team was challenged to solve cases of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), respiratory disorders or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and several other degenerative diseases, starting from preparing the correct diet menu for each diagnosis to determining the patient’s nutritional status.

UNAIR team, apart from writing a clinical nutrition case-solving report, gave a comprehensive answer in responding to the judges’ questions. Ayu Sabila even said they arranged the preparations in less than a week. First Prize was beyond their expectations.

“We barely reviewed our course material, find textbooks and updates from relevant sources to the [competition] theme. However, it’s a dietetic competition which consists of practice and comprehensive courses material from the first to sixth semester. Alhamdulillah [praise God], we remember it well. We focus on the mental preparation instead, as the case problem was unpredictable,” said the Nutrition student.

For the two, the most challenging part was to arrange a balanced diet in terms of macronutrients and micronutrients. Apart from the competition, UNAIR team also implemented the third point of SDGs, Good Health and Well-Being. The competition allows students to sharpen their competence in establishing a healthy community.

Anisah added that they joined the competition to measure their ability and understanding in solving the Nutrition Care Process (NCP) from various diseases. She believed it gave a simulation experience before the real internship in the hospital. “Overall, we wanted to challenge ourselves in a ‘warm-up’ before the hospital internship we are going to face by this semester,” she said.

Author: Viradyah Lulut Santosa

Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia