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Hello! My name is Stanley and I am a current high school student. I'm conducting an interview with any professional in the Nutritionist field for a Foundations in Health Science Class project about careers! I have created a total of 13 questions. Comment on this post, answering all 13 questions to be apart of my assignment.
1. What profession did you choose? Why?
2. How many years of college did you go through?
3. What jobs did you work on before you landed your present professional job?
4. How can I decide if I should earn a PH.D. in this field?
5. Were you in a college program?
6. Did you have to pivot and go back to school at a later date?
7. Did you shadow another professional in the field?
8. Did you join any school clubs related to your current profession?
9. Was there a particular subject you struggled with during your school years?
10. What skill sets did you learn or gain while pursuing your career?
11. What is your favorite part of your career? (Ex: Meeting new people)
12. Do you think the amount of time you put into reaching this career was worth it? Why or why not?
13. Would you say that this career is hard or difficult in both reaching it and now practicing the profession ? Why or why not?
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Danielle’s Answer
1. What profession did you choose? Why? I chose to be a registered dietitian nutritionist. An RD is a medical profession and just like MDs, RNs, DPTs you must obtain national credentials to practice. All registered dietitians are nutritionists but nutritionists are not necessarily dietitians. I was interested in dietetics because I was always curious how diet could affect disease (my grandfather had diabetes and my sister had severe ulcerative colitis both had special diets)
2. How many years of college did you go through? 4 year bachelor’s degree in dietetics and then one year dietetic internship that allowed me to sit for my board exam. The standard is different now; all new prospective dietitians must go through a master’s program.
3. What jobs did you work on before you landed your present professional job? In high school I was a lifeguard, college I worked in food service and in a lab helping a PhD candidate collect specimens and process data.
4. How can I decide if I should earn a PH.D. in this field? Start with going to college and determine what interests you while getting your bachelor’s degree. You don’t have to decide anything right away. I have no clue what I would’ve gone to grad school for in my 20’s! Now that I have years of clinical experience i have a much better idea what research would have more importance.
5. Were you in a college program? Yes I completed the dietetics program at Purdue University then completed a dietetic internship through Purdue and currently pursuing my masters in clinical nutrition from the university of Wisconsin.
6. Did you have to pivot and go back to school at a later date? I completed the progam at Purdue in 2008 and then started working. In 2021 I started my masters.
7. Did you shadow another professional in the field? I wish I did!!
8. Did you join any school clubs related to your current profession? Yes join your local dietetics association!
9. Was there a particular subject you struggled with during your school years? Just the pre-requisite math! The organic chem, anatomy and physiology and biochemistry were difficult but very interesting and which helped me excel in these classes.
10. What skill sets did you learn or gain while pursuing your career? Critical thinking, communication, and professionalism
11. What is your favorite part of your career? Working with different types of people and always learning about the human body.
12. Do you think the amount of time you put into reaching this career was worth it? Definitely worth it
13. Would you say that this career is hard or difficult in both reaching it and now practicing the profession ? Why or why not? Not hard to reach if you are motivated and determined!
It really depends what area of dietetics you practice. Anywhere there’s food and people there will be a dietitian. My area of interest has been in the clinical setting. I practice as a dietitian who sees patients in the intensive care unit and in the burn center (my focus is burn care nutrition). In the hospital, setting a dietitian will assess a patient’s energy and protein needs depending on their disease and condition; so if they have a gunshot wound to the abdomen versus kidney failure or liver failure or a traumatic brain injury, all of their nutritional needs will be very different. Then I have to determine the route that I will feed people in the hospital; not everybody can eat with their mouth especially if they’re in the intensive care unit as they might be on a breathing machine and need to get nutrition either through a tube that goes into the stomach or tube that goes into their intestines or a patient might not be able to get nutrition through their gut so they might need to be fed through their veins. Then there is the monitoring of the patient’s tolerance to the nutrition regimen. A sports Dietitian would work with athletes either in the Olympics, novice athletes or on professional sports teams, and depending on the type of sport, the position in the sport, their nutritional needs will be very different. Some dietitians might work as an outpatient Dietitian and council patients on diabetic management or weight loss. Some dietitians might work in food service and manage large kitchens some dietitians work in research either clinical research or cellular research, there are pediatric dietitians who might see patients that have inborn errors of metabolism or they might be patients in a neonatal intensive care unit. The list goes on and on and that’s just the tip of the iceberg
2. How many years of college did you go through? 4 year bachelor’s degree in dietetics and then one year dietetic internship that allowed me to sit for my board exam. The standard is different now; all new prospective dietitians must go through a master’s program.
3. What jobs did you work on before you landed your present professional job? In high school I was a lifeguard, college I worked in food service and in a lab helping a PhD candidate collect specimens and process data.
4. How can I decide if I should earn a PH.D. in this field? Start with going to college and determine what interests you while getting your bachelor’s degree. You don’t have to decide anything right away. I have no clue what I would’ve gone to grad school for in my 20’s! Now that I have years of clinical experience i have a much better idea what research would have more importance.
5. Were you in a college program? Yes I completed the dietetics program at Purdue University then completed a dietetic internship through Purdue and currently pursuing my masters in clinical nutrition from the university of Wisconsin.
6. Did you have to pivot and go back to school at a later date? I completed the progam at Purdue in 2008 and then started working. In 2021 I started my masters.
7. Did you shadow another professional in the field? I wish I did!!
8. Did you join any school clubs related to your current profession? Yes join your local dietetics association!
9. Was there a particular subject you struggled with during your school years? Just the pre-requisite math! The organic chem, anatomy and physiology and biochemistry were difficult but very interesting and which helped me excel in these classes.
10. What skill sets did you learn or gain while pursuing your career? Critical thinking, communication, and professionalism
11. What is your favorite part of your career? Working with different types of people and always learning about the human body.
12. Do you think the amount of time you put into reaching this career was worth it? Definitely worth it
13. Would you say that this career is hard or difficult in both reaching it and now practicing the profession ? Why or why not? Not hard to reach if you are motivated and determined!
It really depends what area of dietetics you practice. Anywhere there’s food and people there will be a dietitian. My area of interest has been in the clinical setting. I practice as a dietitian who sees patients in the intensive care unit and in the burn center (my focus is burn care nutrition). In the hospital, setting a dietitian will assess a patient’s energy and protein needs depending on their disease and condition; so if they have a gunshot wound to the abdomen versus kidney failure or liver failure or a traumatic brain injury, all of their nutritional needs will be very different. Then I have to determine the route that I will feed people in the hospital; not everybody can eat with their mouth especially if they’re in the intensive care unit as they might be on a breathing machine and need to get nutrition either through a tube that goes into the stomach or tube that goes into their intestines or a patient might not be able to get nutrition through their gut so they might need to be fed through their veins. Then there is the monitoring of the patient’s tolerance to the nutrition regimen. A sports Dietitian would work with athletes either in the Olympics, novice athletes or on professional sports teams, and depending on the type of sport, the position in the sport, their nutritional needs will be very different. Some dietitians might work as an outpatient Dietitian and council patients on diabetic management or weight loss. Some dietitians might work in food service and manage large kitchens some dietitians work in research either clinical research or cellular research, there are pediatric dietitians who might see patients that have inborn errors of metabolism or they might be patients in a neonatal intensive care unit. The list goes on and on and that’s just the tip of the iceberg
Thanks, can't wait to put this advice into action!
Stanley
Hi again! I'm so sorry but I forgot to ask what tasks are you required to do as a nutritionist?
Stanley
I addended my comment to answer the question you just posed. Since I only had so many characters in this box.
Danielle Toepfer, RD, LD, CNSC
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