Is there a Registered Dietitian program for RN's?

Pinkpea11 · Oct 27, 2009

This is a great question. I work in a big hospital now, and I have not seen any sort of job that you are talking about. So sorry I have no answer for you.

I was in dietetics at first but then switched to nursing (more job security), and when I finish nursing school, I would love to connect these two somehow. I am always going to be more interested in nutrition, and if there is a job out there that connects these two, that would be for me. Any ideas/advice would be great!

L&Dnurse2Be · Oct 27, 2009

A registered dietician requires a separate degree. It is true that a lot of classes might overlap, such as basic nutrition, biochem, A&P, etc., but an RD actually requires an intensive internship after your undergraduate degree in nutrition. I hold a BS in Nutrition and was not able to get into the internship at my school as they only took 12 students each semester in the Masters's program. The internships are very competitive, as is nursing. Good luck with your choice!

Tanguera, BSN, MSN, RN, NP · Oct 28, 2009

Thanks so much for the quick replies. I am already in a nursing program, so I am just looking to expand my knowledge about nutrition. I think it's odd that doctors do not have a course in nutrition, and nurses are only really mandated one course (if any).

Dietetics just interests me, so I was thinking about just taking a few courses in it just to get more of an idea that a lot of the patients I see have a lot of health problems related to diet (I see a lot of diabetics), so I do think that we should put more of an emphasis on diet and nutrition and then that will help people in the long run. I feel like our patients only come to us when we're broken and not for the maintenance of good health.

blondielocks · Oct 28, 2009

Wow, I am so glad to have read this. I, too, am very interested in nutrition. I want to become an RN but would love to find a way to overlap Nursing with wellness/fitness/nutrition. ?

noyesno, MSN, APRN, NP · May 12, 2010

I also have a BS in Nutrition (concentration Dietetics), and like L&Dnurse2be, I am now doing nursing. To answer your question, I do not believe there is a program out there for RNs to become RDs without going the extremely slow route of getting a BS in Nutrition (concentration in Dietetics) and then completing a Dietetics Internship. The Dietetics Internships are EXTREMELY competitive, with less than 50% of applicants getting placed. In addition to the Dietetics Internships being competitive, they are also lengthy (1 year to 2 years) and expensive (you have to pay to complete the internship). I think you can take the route of getting an MS in Nutrition if you have a bachelor's right now in nursing and do a Dietetics Internship after the MS is complete. After completing the Dietetics Internship, you are eligible to sit for the RD exam.

You are right. There is an overlap between nursing classes and dietetics classes. For my undergraduate, I had to take general chemistry I and II, organic chemistry, biochemistry, physiology, and Microbiology.

The curriculum also includes nutritional biochemistry I and II, nutritional aspects of disease, nutrition through the life cycle, clinical nutrition, etc. You have to take a bunch of food science classes as well (teach you how to basically run a restaurant), and a couple of business administration classes are required. In addition to the classes, we were required to get community, clinical, and food service experience outside of class (in order to be competitive for the Dietetics Internship, these experiences are a must).

An RD that I worked with over one Summer (while getting my clinical experience) had a daughter who had gotten RD and did not enjoy working as a dietitian and was going to nursing school at the time. I thought an RN/RD would be an awesome combo to have, but I think because it is pretty rare, the opportunities are pretty limited. Perhaps you could work a few days as an RN and then switch to work as an RD. Not sure if you could overlap them.

I totally agree with what you said about it being odd that MDs are not required to take courses in nutrition. In my undergrad, some of the Med students at my school were able to take our nutritional aspects of disease course as an elective, but it was an elective, so other Med students were not getting exposure to nutrition.

Sorry, this is lengthy; as you may be able to tell, I could go on and on about my issues with the schooling to become an RD or the issue I have with the actual career. I'm just frustrated (and bitter) that I spent four years working my butt off only to realize that nursing is so much better! ?

If you have any questions, let me know! ?

RhodeIslandMSN · May 12, 2010

Last year, I took a few online nutrition courses through Kansas State, and I highly recommend their program. To pursue the RD, nurses are required to take all of the nutrition courses and bio-chem, complete the internship, and then sit for the RD exam. Nurses aren't required to retake A&P or micro.

I hope this helps.

SSeul · May 25, 2010

noyesno said:

I also have a BS in Nutrition (concentration Dietetics), and like L&Dnurse2be, I am now doing nursing. To answer your question, I do not believe there is a program out there for RNs to become RDs without going the extremely slow route of getting a BS in Nutrition (concentration in Dietetics) and then completing a Dietetics Internship. The Dietetics Internships are EXTREMELY competitive, with less than 50% of applicants getting placed. In addition to the Dietetics Internships being competitive, they are also lengthy (1 year to 2 years) and expensive (you have to pay to complete the internship). I think you can take the route of getting an MS in Nutrition if you have a bachelor's right now in nursing and do a Dietetics Internship after the MS is complete. After completing the Dietetics Internship, you are eligible to sit for the RD exam.

You are right. There is an overlap between nursing classes and dietetics classes. For my undergraduate, I had to take general chemistry I and II, organic chemistry, biochemistry, physiology, and Microbiology.

The curriculum also includes nutritional biochemistry I and II, nutritional aspects of disease, nutrition through the life cycle, clinical nutrition, etc. You have to take a bunch of food science classes as well (teach you how to basically run a restaurant), and a couple of business administration classes are required. In addition to the classes, we were required to get community, clinical, and food service experience outside of class (in order to be competitive for the Dietetics Internship, these experiences are a must).

An RD that I worked with over one Summer (while getting my clinical experience) had a daughter who had gotten RD and did not enjoy working as a dietitian and was going to nursing school at the time. I thought an RN/RD would be an awesome combo to have, but I think because it is pretty rare, the opportunities are pretty limited. Perhaps you could work a few days as an RN and then switch to work as an RD. Not sure if you could overlap them.

I totally agree with what you said about it being odd that MDs are not required to take courses in nutrition. In my undergrad, some of the Med students at my school were able to take our nutritional aspects of disease course as an elective, but it was an elective, so other Med students were not getting exposure to nutrition.

Sorry, this is lengthy; as you may be able to tell, I could go on and on about my issues with the schooling to become an RD or the issue I have with the actual career. I'm just frustrated (and bitter) that I spent four years working my butt off only to realize that nursing is so much better! ?

If you have any questions, let me know! ?

I'm currently a student about to declare into the Nutrition major (finishing g.e's this year), and I was also interested in the Nursing program as well. So is it possible to get into nursing after I get my degree in Nutrition? (I can't really opt out of it now, hahaha) Also, I noticed that I had two options in the nutrition program (nutrition science or dietetics). Which one would be more beneficial? I think there would be more options in Nutrition Science cause there is more coursework (more chem, physics, etc.) Sorry for asking so many questions >_

noyesno, MSN, APRN, NP · May 25, 2010

SSeul said:

I'm currently a student about to declare into the Nutrition major (finishing g.e's this year), and I was also interested in the Nursing program as well. So is it possible to get into nursing after I get my degree in Nutrition? (I can't really opt out of it now, hahaha) Also, I noticed that I had two options in the nutrition program (nutrition science or dietetics). Which one would be more beneficial? I think there would be more options in Nutrition Science cause there is more coursework (more chem, physics, etc.) Sorry for asking so many questions >_
I wouldn't do dietetics unless you want to become a registered dietitian. Many of your upper-level classes are very specific to dietetics and would not transfer to nursing. For example, one of my senior year classes taught us how to prepare our applications for the dietetics internship. I think the Nutrition concentration would better prepare you for further schooling. I know at my University, with this concentration, you were eligible to apply to medical school with the classes you take. So, I'm assuming it would also prepare you for nursing school too.

When you graduate with the Bachelor, there are a few ways you can go about getting your RN:

1. Do an accelerated BSN program

2. Do a traditional BSN program

3. Do a direct entry MSN for people with a non-nursing Bachelor

4. Do an ADN program at a community college

All of these options above make you eligible to sit for the NCLEX.

If you have any questions, let me know!?

Tanguera, BSN, MSN, RN, NP · May 26, 2010

Wow, thank you, notes! That is a great response to my question. I am not yet finished with my BSN program, but I will be in a few months. In the future, while I'm working, I'm hoping I can take some classes in nutrition, but I'll have to pay off loans first before even considering going back to school.

Still, you mentioned that you think nursing is much better. Why do you say that? What are the hours like? I don't think they're 12-hour shifts. I have spoken to some RD''s who told me to stick with nursing since it pays better. Still, I am curious to know what your thoughts are on the matter.

Thanks so much for the insight and information!!!

noyesno, MSN, APRN, NP · May 26, 2010

Tanguera said:

Wow, thank you, notes! That is a great response to my question. I am not yet finished with my BSN program, but I will be in a few months. In the future, while I'm working, I'm hoping I can take some classes in nutrition, but I'll have to pay off loans first before even considering going back to school.

Still, you mentioned that you think nursing is much better. Why do you say that? What are the hours like? I don't think they're 12-hour shifts. I have spoken to some RD''s who told me to stick with nursing since it pays better. Still, I am curious to know what your thoughts are on the matter.

Thanks so much for the insight and information!!!

You are welcome. ?

That sounds like a good plan.

I hope I don't come across as too much of an RD hater, but you asked...

I think nursing is better for a variety of reasons:

1. There are more job opportunities for nursing

2. Nurses get paid more than dietitians

3. More school in nursing leads to more pay and advanced opportunities; the same is not true for dietitians (an RD with a master's degree gets a pay increase of only $2/hr over an RD without a master's degree, like what my adviser told our class and she provided statistics to back it up, I don't have the exact study to reference)

4. Nurses' hours are more flexible than dietitians (most dietitians work (5) 8-hour shifts a week; I do know one dietitian that works (4) 10-hour shifts a week, but I think this is rare); as a nurse, you can work (3) 12-hour shifts a week, (5) 8-hour shifts a week, day shift or night shift

5. From my experiences working with dietitians (I did inpatient rounds with two dietitians on various days and assisted an outpatient dietitian with her appointments for a few days) and my three semesters of nursing clinical, I find the interactions I've had in nursing clinical to be more rewarding and exciting

6. Think of the most type A perfectionist you can; this is the typical dietetics student/dietitian is like (this is a generalization, I know, but it's pretty accurate from my perspective); nursing students/nurses are a lot more team-oriented and friendly (obviously a generalization again); when I made the switch from dietetics to nursing, I felt so much more love and support and less competition from my peers (it actually improved the quality of life)

7. You get to wear scrubs as a nurse; it's usually business casual as a dietitian; the dietetics in me secretly worries that I will gain weight in the freedom of scrubs (horrible!)

For me, the final straw that led me to make the switch was learning the frustrations and red tape within the profession, considering what services you can provide to patients. I don't understand completely what the deal is, but insurance only covers a very limited number of services provided by dietitians. Something about how when Medicare and Medicaid were written, dietitians, unlike all the other professions, didn't get on board, so now they have to fight to get written in for each specific service. Obviously, I am being unclear because I don't remember exactly what the deal is, but I went to a conference my senior year of college, and they were discussing this, and I sat in a group with dietitians, and we had to go around and practice how we were going to harass our congressmen, and I lost interest. Also, I really wanted to be a community dietitian and work with lower-income individuals, but a friend of mine does this and told me her job was really unrewarding because most of the individuals you encounter are just there because they need food stamps and most people who are supplementing their food supply with food stamps aren't real receptive to talking about diet modification because most healthy foods are expensive, etc. etc. Ah!!! Then you can tell them, "go to the Farmer's Market... you can redeem your food stamps there..." but they are probably working like a million hours and are unavailable to go then, but they can redeem their food stamps at a gas station b/c the criteria for whether food stamps can redeem at an establishment is depended upon how many fruits and veggies the place offers and they count KETCHUP as a veggie when they determine this!! OMG...

Lastly (if you are still with me), my ultimate career goal (aka my long-term career goal) is to be some sort of mid-level practitioner. I would really like to be a Nurse Practitioner. A background in nursing will get me there more easily than a background in dietetics.

Funny fact: the lady in charge of the nursing program at the university I got my bachelor's was a dietitian for ten years before becoming a nurse. She hated being a dietitian.

Funny fact #2: the outpatient dietitian I worked with had two daughters: one became a nurse, the other became a dietitian, hated it, and then became a nurse

I will send you a message from my friend who has a really awesome blog. She is a dietitian and really enjoys her job. Recently, she posted her typical day as an RD. You might find it interesting!

Best of luck!?

SSeul · Jun 6, 2010

Noyesno - Thank you for the info! I've been talking to my nutrition advisers, and they are not very informative at all (and hard to catch with all their 'important' meetings -__-). I will definitely keep in touch if I have any more concerns ?

Sooni