Nursing OR Nutritionist?

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  1. Should I pursue a BSN or Nutritionist?

    • 1
      BSN degree
    • 2
      Nutritionist

3 members have participated

Hi, I apologize if this is in the wrong section or something.

As a long term goal, I would like to help people use food to manage their weight and other health symptoms. I have lost 95 pounds and I feel like I can help other people.

The problem is I'm not sure how to go about doing this. If I choose to pursue a nutrition degree it seems unlikely that I will get a steady job. Hospitals generally use only a few dieticians. Furthermore I would like to get more experience before I became an outpatient nutritionist. I'm not sure it's something I would be able to do right out of school.

One more thing, a nutritionist has to LAND an unpaid internship to become a dietician. So AFTER I got my degree I would have to be lucky to get the internship. Another obstacle in that program.

I feel like a BSN degree is MUCH more versatile. I could start out doing pretty much anything and eventually steer my career towards something involving what I want to do. I figure there are also a lot of nutrition related nursing jobs out there. I figure there is a figurative "bridge" a nurse can cross and become a nutrition counselor or something to that effect.

Does anyone have any advice or personal experience? I guess I can add a poll to this as well.

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Specializes in Med-Surg., Oncology, Observational Units.

Congratulations on the weight loss. Can I ask what you feel contributed to your success and what plan you followed? This will give me better info in which to answer your question with. Either way, I would choose a BSN because you are still able to give nutrition advice as an RN according to my nursing state practice act.

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I did weight watchers, as well as a combination of weights, cardio, hiking. I started in 2012 I am still trying to get to my goal weight but I am close to "overweight" (currently still in "obese")

I'm not close minded though. I understand that obesity is very complicated and we still don't have all the answers as to what causes it. It could really be anything, hormones firing off too much or not enough, imbalances in gut bacteria, psychological. No single scenario fits everyone. Some people do need bariatric surgery.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

Congratulations on your hard work and success! That's awesome.

Keep in mind that RN positions where you are able to help a lot with nutrition and weight loss may be limited as well. Your best bet would probably be bariatric clinic or inpatient surgery unit, possibly in endocrinology where you will work with people with type II diabetes. In most inpatient units, your time will be very limited, and due to shorter hospital stays your teaching needs to focus on what got them in the hospital and what will keep them from being readmitted. Weight loss assistance requires time that most floor RNs simply don't have.

I have worked in neuro/ENT floor, ICU, subacute rehab, and long-term acute hospital units and can honestly say that I have never taught about weight loss. Obesity might be a huge underlying cause of their disease processes, but when they are in for a stroke or a necrotizing wound or a trauma...THOSE are the clear and present dangers.

Nursing is a great career. But if your life's passion is dietary approaches to health, you would probably have more fulfillment as a dietician.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Want to extend my Kudos as well! There's nothing that impresses me as much as successful weight loss - way to go!

PP's are providing great advice. Unfortunately, US healthcare is pretty much still 'illness care'. Not much profit in anything that is preventative because insurance companies won't pay for it. In cases where it is reimbursed, it is usually limited to Registered Dietitians (RD) because that is their scope of practice. On the nursing side, Certified Diabetic Educators (CDE) spend a lot of time on nutritional teaching and counseling, but that's pretty much it except for reinforcing the (canned, pre-printed) patient education information that's provided as part of discharge planning for patients who have to modify their diets. The best systems (such as our local VA) have integrated care protocols that involve RDs whenever there is any dietary teaching to be done.

I concur with the advice about working with Bariatric programs. They seem to be springing up everywhere. Most employ RDs to do any heavy duty dietary teaching, but nursing staff are expected to reinforce it.

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Specializes in Med-Surg., Oncology, Observational Units.

I would say you can go either way, but do not expect the information learned in nursing or dietetics school to teach you much about making people lose weight or being healthy. The brief nutrition you learn in nursing and extensive training you would get in dietetics school all focus on managing diseases. In short, you will be focusing on "My Plate or the food pyramid" which is driven by money not by ethical science. Basically, the stuff that works you will have to learn on your own. You can give advice on nutrition with either path, but you would learn some useful biochemistry in the nutrition program. In order to learn what works you just need to read a few of the "right" books and be an RN or RD to actually give advice.

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I understand. I already have my own ideas, I wouldn't let my schooling change them. I would also like to help people manage their disease. Basically as a health care provider I would want to be well rounded. Not just weightloss but other conditions as well.

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