Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Sunday, October 22Poster Session: Professional Skills; Nutrition Assessment & Diagnosis; Medical Nutrition TherapyComparison of Performance of Advanced Clinical Nutrition Practice Tasks of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists with Graduate Degrees
Section snippets
Learning Outcome
To understand the frequency of performance of advanced level clinical nutrition practice tasks of a national sample of advanced practice (AP) registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) compared to a sample of RDN graduate students and alumni of two graduate programs.
Background
Advanced practice (AP) clinical nutrition tasks have been identified by the Commission on Dietetic Registration’s (CDR) Advanced Level Clinical Practice Audit (ALCPA). Rutgers’ Graduate Programs in Clinical Nutrition (GPCN) offer advanced practice curricula. The study aims were to identify the frequency of performance of AP practice tasks of Rutgers GPCN students and alumni, and compare their frequency of task performance to a national sample of AP registered dietitian nutritionists identified
Methods
The study was a secondary analysis of data from the CDR ALCPA and cross-sectional surveys of GPCN Doctorate of Clinical Nutrition (DCN) students and Master of Science and DCN alumni. Data included frequency of task performance from respondents with an advanced degree and >20% work time in clinical practice. The percentage of task involvement was compared between samples with the Rao-Scott chi-square test.
Results
For 11 of 16 AP tasks, the proportion of task involvement by the GPCN sample (n=84) was significantly greater than the ALCPA sample (n=1330) (p≤0.05). These AP tasks included: evaluating published literature to determine applicability to a practice setting, conducting in-depth nutrition focused physical examination, leading an interdisciplinary team in designing nutrition programs, analyzing safety aspects of practice, developing new tools, developing strategic plans, and tasks related to
Conclusions
Frequency of task involvement for GPCN alumni and DCN students from a single university was significantly greater for the majority of CDR's AP tasks compared to the ALCPA sample. This may be due to the academic programs’ focus on advanced practice clinical nutrition.
Funding Disclosure
None