What is a Dietitian?
” A dietitian, known by most in the medical community as an R.D., is the utmost authority on food and nutrition. These experts must complete a dietetics bachelors program from an accredited institution, meeting rigorous academic standards. Upon completion of the dietetics program, dietitians are required to complete a 6- to 12-month internship to be eligible to take the national Registered Dietitian exam.
A dietitian is a person who handles all aspects, or at least advises all aspects, of food and nutrition preparation and consumption. While the most common place to find a such a person is in a hospital or long-term care facility, there are plenty of other opportunities for those who choose this as a career opportunity. Other opportunities include school systems, prisons, doctor’s offices, and even some grocery stores hire dietitians in order to advise their customers of healthy eating. For those who want to become a dietitian, an interest in food and biology, and how those two courses of study interact, is a requirement. There are a number of degree paths that could lead to a career as dietitian. These may be food systems service management, dietetics, or any number of other degrees. Advanced degrees can also be earned, which will help increase the dietitian’s depth of knowledge on the subject matter. As mentioned previously, there are many different types of dietitian roles. These rol
Dietitians: An Essential Member of the Modern Health Care Team Dietitians begin their academic career with a bachelor’s degree from an accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD). KU does not offer a DPD and therefore students must have already completed four years of undergraduate study at another institution before entering KU’s Dietetic Internship program. This graduate certificate requires at least 1000 hours of supervised practice experience. Graduates of this program are then eligible to take the National Registration Examination to become a Registered Dietitian (RD). Job opportunities vary for RDs and positions are widely available. Registered Dietitians may work in hospitals providing medical nutrition therapy for the treatment and prevention of disease. Others work in private practice or other health care facilities. A growing number of dietitians are employed in the food and nutrition industry, including business, journalism, sports nutrition and corporate wellness program
Dietitians can work in a variety of areas, many are within Hospitals or in the community as Clinical Dietitians, Health Educators or as Managers. Both Hospital and Community Dietitians educate people who need special diets as part of their medical treatment, for example patients with/in: • Kidney Disease • Food Allergies • Eating Disorders • Diabetes • HIV/AIDS • Oncology • Gastroenterology Dietitians also work outside of the NHS in a variety of different areas such as: • Food Industry • Education • Research • Business • Charities • Media • Freelance work. Dietitians have special skills in translating scientific and medical decisions related to food and health to inform the general public. They also play an important role in health promotion. A State Registered Dietitian has an interest in science, people and food, able to communicate with people from all areas of the community, the ability to explain complex things simply, a positive and motivating attitude and an understanding, non-d
One question I get asked a lot is, what is the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist? American Dietetics Association defines a dietitian or registered dietitian (RD) as a food and nutrition expert who has met academic and professional requirements including: Bachelor’s degree in food and nutrition sciences. Has completed an accredited, supervised, experiential practice program, passed a national examination administered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration, and completes continuing professional educational requirements to maintain registration. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist. A nutritionist does not have to have any education or training in nutrition to use this title. A self claimed nutritionist can be anyone from someone who has read a health book to a health food store manager. It is important when you are reading up on the latest nutrition information to pay attention to who wrote it and what their credentials are. By following advice give by registered
