Individuals interested in becoming Registered Dietitians should expect to study a wide variety of topics focusing on food, nutrition, and management. These areas are supported by the sciences: physical and biological, behavioral and social, and communication. Becoming a dietitian involves a combination of academic preparation, including a minimum of a baccalaureate degree, and a supervised practice component.

The following foundation knowledge and skill requirements are listed in the eight areas that students will focus on in the academic component of a dietetics program. Foundation learning is divided as follows: basic knowledge of a topic, working or in-depth knowledge of a topic as it applies to the profession of dietetics, and ability to demonstrate the skill at a level that can be developed further. To successfully achieve the foundation knowledge and skills, graduates must demonstrate the ability to communicate and collaborate, solve problems, and apply critical thinking skills.

These requirements may be met through separate courses, combined into one course, or as part of several courses as determined by the college or university sponsoring a program accredited or approved by the Commission on Accreditation/Approval for Dietetics Education (CAADE) of The American Dietetic Association.

Individuals are expected to develop competence to practice dietetics through a supervised practice component in programs accredited or approved by CAADE. Competency statements specify what every dietitian should be able to do at the beginning of his or her practice career. The core competency statements build on appropriate knowledge and skills necessary for the entry-level practitioner to perform reliably at the level indicated. One or more of the emphasis areas are added to the core competencies so that a supervised practice program can prepare graduates for identified market needs. Thus, all entry-level dietitians will have the core competencies and additional competencies according to the emphasis area(s) completed.

1. Perform ethically in accordance with the values of The American Dietetic Association

2. Refer clients/patients to other dietetics professionals or disciplines when a situation is beyond one’s level or area of competence

3. Participate in professional activities

4. Perform self assessment and participate in professional development

5. Participate in legislative and public policy processes as they affect food, food security, and nutrition

6. Use current technologies for information and communication activities

7. Supervise documentation of nutrition assessment and interventions

8. Provide dietetics education in supervised practice settings

9. Supervise counseling, education, and/or other interventions in health promotion/disease prevention for patients/clients needing medical nutrition therapy for common conditions, e.g., hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and diverticular disease

10. Supervise education and training for target groups

11. Develop and review educational materials for target populations

12. Participate in the use of mass media for community-based food and nutrition programs

13. Interpret and incorporate new scientific knowledge into practice

14. Supervise quality improvement, including systems and customer satisfaction, for dietetics service and/or practice

15. Develop and measure outcomes for food and nutrition services and practice

16. Participate in organizational change and planning and goal-setting processes

17. Participate in business or operating plan development

18. Supervise the collection and processing of financial data

19. Perform marketing functions

20. Participate in human resources functions

21. Participate in facility management, including equipment selection and design/redesign of work units

22. Supervise the integration of financial, human, physical, and material resources and services

23. Supervise production of food that meets nutrition guidelines, cost parameters, and consumer acceptance

24. Supervise development and/or modification of recipes/formulas

25. Supervise translation of nutrition into foods/menus for target populations

26. Supervise design of menus as indicated by the patient’s/client’s health status

27. Participate in applied sensory evaluation of food and nutrition products

28. Supervise procurement, distribution, and service within delivery systems

29. Manage safety and sanitation issues related to food and nutrition

30. Supervise nutrition screening of individual patients/clients

31. Supervise nutrition assessment of individual patients/clients with common medical conditions, e.g., hypertension, obesity, diabetes, diverticular disease

32. Assess nutritional status of individual patients/clients with complex medical conditions, i.e., more complicated health conditions in select populations, e.g., renal disease, multi-system organ failure, trauma

33. Manage the normal nutrition needs of individuals across the life span, i.e., infants through geriatrics and a diversity of people, cultures, and religions

34. Design and implement nutrition care plans as indicated by the patient’s/client’s health status

35. Manage monitoring of patients’/clients’ food and/or nutrient intake

36. Select, implement, and evaluate standard enteral and parenteral nutrition regimens, i.e., in a medically stable patient to meet nutritional requirements where recommendations/adjustments involve primarily macronutrients

37. Develop and implement transitional feeding plans, i.e., conversion from one form of nutrition support to another, e.g., total parenteral nutrition to tube feeding to oral diet

38. Coordinate and modify nutrition care activities among caregivers

39. Conduct nutrition care component of interdisciplinary team conferences to discuss patient/client treatment and discharge planning

40. Refer patients/clients to appropriate community services for general health and nutrition needs and to other primary care providers as appropriate

41. Conduct general health assessment, e.g., blood pressure, vital signs

42. Supervise screening of the nutritional status of the population and/or community groups

43. Conduct assessment of the nutritional status of the population and/or community groups

44. Provide nutrition care for population groups across the lifespan, i.e., infants through geriatrics, and a diversity of people, cultures, and religions

45. Conduct community-based health promotion/disease prevention programs

46. Participate in community-based food and nutrition program development and evaluation

47. Supervise community-based food and nutrition programs

All dietitian education supervised practice programs must offer at least one emphasis area. The emphasis areas are not intended to prepare specialists or advanced level practitioners as defined for credentialing purposes. Competencies for each emphasis area build on the core competencies and are designed to begin to develop the depth necessary for future proficiency in that area of dietetics practice. More experience in at least one area provides a model for learning throughout one’s professional life.

For establishing an emphasis area, the program has the following options:

• Use one or more of the four defined emphasis areas; or,

• Develop a general emphasis by selecting a minimum of seven competency statements, relevant to program mission and goals, with at least one from each of the four defined emphasis areas. The selected competencies should build on the core competencies. General emphasis does not mean achievement of all competencies from all emphasis areas; or,

• Create a unique emphasis area with a minimum of seven competency statements, based on environmental resources and identified needs.

1. Supervise nutrition assessment of individual patients/clients with complex medical conditions, i.e., more complicated health conditions in select populations, e.g., renal disease, multi-system organ failure, trauma

2. Integrate pathophysiology into medical nutrition therapy recommendations

3. Supervise design through evaluation of nutrition care plan for patients/clients with complex medical conditions, i.e., more com-

plicated health conditions in select populations, e.g., renal disease, multi-system organ failure, trauma

4. Select, monitor, and evaluate complex enteral and parenteral nutrition regimens, i.e., more complicated health conditions in select populations, e.g., renal disease, multi-system organ failure, trauma

5. Supervise development and implementation of transition feeding plans from the inpatient to home setting

6. Conduct counseling and education for patients/clients with complex needs, i.e., more complicated health conditions in select populations, e.g., renal disease, multi-system organ failure, trauma

7. Perform basic physical assessment

8. Participate in nasoenteric feeding tube placement and care

9. Participate in waivered point-of-care testing, such as blood glucose monitoring

10. Participate in the care of patients/clients requiring adaptive feeding devices

11. Manage clinical nutrition services

1. Manage nutrition care for population groups across the lifespan

2. Conduct community-based food and nutrition program outcome assessment/evaluation

3. Develop community-based food and nutrition programs

4. Participate in nutrition surveillance and monitoring of communities

5. Participate in community-based research

6. Participate in food and nutrition policy development and evaluation based on community needs and resources

7. Consult with organizations regarding food access for target populations

8. Develop a health promotion/disease prevention intervention project

9. Participate in waivered point-of-care testing, such as hematocrit and cholesterol levels

1. Manage development and/or modification of recipes/formulas

2. Manage menu development for target populations

3. Manage applied sensory evaluation of food and nutrition products

4. Manage production of food that meets nutrition guidelines, cost parameters, and consumer acceptance

5. Manage procurement, distribution, and service within delivery systems

6. Manage the integration of financial, human, physical, and material resources

7. Manage safety and sanitation issues related to food and nutrition

8. Supervise customer satisfaction systems for dietetics services and/ or practice

9. Supervise marketing functions

10. Supervise human resource functions

11. Perform operations analysis

1. Perform organizational and strategic planning

2. Develop business or operating plan

3. Supervise procurement of resources

4. Manage the integration of financial, human, physical, and material resources

5. Supervise organizational change process

6. Supervise coordination of services

7. Supervise marketing functions

Directory of Dietetics Programs: The Directory of Dietetics Programs is the complete listing of CAADE-accredited Coordinated and Internship Programs, CAADE-approved and accredited Dietetic Technician Programs, and CAADE-approved Preprofessional Practice and Didactic Programs in Dietetics. Advanced degree and specialty practice education programs also are listed. Copies of the Directory may be ordered from ADA Customer Service. Call 1-800-877-1600 ext. 5000 for price and ordering information.

Web Site: The ADA Web site includes a listing with selected information on CAADE-accredited/approved programs. The URL is http://www.eatright.org/caade.html.

SOURCE: Reproduced with permission from The American Dietetic Association, Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education.