Nutrition Nursing – More Than an Exciting Career

Healthful Vitality | 05/01/2019 | By Dr. Faiq Shaikh, MD | Nutrition Nursing – More Than an Exciting Career

Nutrition is one of the most important things in our lives, yet most of us fail to give it due importance. A healthy diet with sufficient amounts of all nutrients is essential to preventing and recovering from an illness. In addition, patients suffering from an illness have an even greater need to make sure they receive a diet that addresses their special needs based on their disease condition. In such situations, nutrition provides all the nutrients required to promote recovery and prevent further deterioration of health. Because of these unique necessities, we explore nutrition as a career option.

Nutrition requirements and possible restrictions

Each disease tends to have unique nutrition requirements and possible restrictions, such as low cholesterol, low-fat diet for patients with or at risk of atherosclerotic disease, low protein diet for patients with kidney side, or specific limitations for those enzymatic deficiencies. In addition, there are special nutritional needs of surgical patients that must be addressed. Besides, elderly patients have the most complex dietary specifications. Notably, one must address cardiac and renal health, liver function, bone health, and the like.

Pediatric nutritional practices also require a well-versed clinician to ensure that these children receive the nutrients they need to get healthy and grow. Yet, there are special considerations for newborns and infants, including breastfeeding, weaning, etc. And this focus on nutrition has led to the emergence of specialized careers in nutritional sciences & dietetics. One such specialization is a Nutrition nurse, which leads to our topic: Nutrition Nursing – More Than an Exciting Career.

How is nutrition nursing an exciting career option?

It can be confusing for people, healthy and ailing alike, to navigate through dietary recommendations. Also, it can be confusing to keep abreast of what they should eat and in what amounts, frequency, and combinations. Nutrition nurses are trained to educate patients by reducing complicated nutrition information to easy-to-understand/remember tidbits. This type of clinical expertise is in high demand. They can apply this expertise to many population subsets. This subset includes chronically ill and geriatric patients, hospitalized patients, schoolchildren, patients visiting the outpatient department, and anybody from the community seeking preventive nutrition education/advice.

Furthermore, they can give presentations at community health centers or health fairs. The most pressing need for nutrition nurses is in hospitals and clinics, as these patients require the most intense care. These nurses can talk to patients at the bedside and educate them on their individualized plans. But healthy eating goes far beyond the clinical settings and includes an average person. Therefore, nutritional nurses can play a positive role there as well. Certified nurses can also run wellness programs as health coaches and develop customized diet plans for clients or patients.

Nutrition nursing: Imparting knowledge, leading a healthy lifestyle yourself

The most effective way to impart that knowledge and impact people’s lives is by leading a healthy lifestyle yourself. Nutrition nurses can use their acquired knowledge to improve their own dietary habits. Their own improvement keeps them healthy and is an excellent example for patients and others alike. Unfortunately, nurses are often overworked, and that tends to lead to poor dietary choices. Also, work-related stress makes it worse. Being trained in good nutrition practices would help them fix their own dietary habits and lead by example. In addition, patients are more likely to give heed to the advice of a nurse who is not only knowledgeable in that area but also appears to be following that advice himself/herself.

Certifications in nutrition nursing

There are specialized certifications in Nutrition nursing that nurses might choose to pursue to receive advanced training. This training gives them the required knowledge and confidence to counsel and advise patients and healthy people seeking nutritional guidance. A nutritional nurse works closely with the physician and the dietician to implement the dietary plan for patients and help improve their compliance. Having additional experience in applying nutritional sciences qualifies and trains these nurses to discuss the all-important role of a healthy diet in disease recovery. Consequently, this improves patients’ compliance with the dietary plan and treatment. With this training, nurses can make an even more significant contribution to their patients and their team by ensuring their nutritional needs are met.

Nutrition nursing: Advanced training and need for dedicated curriculum

Given the ever-increasing emphasis on nutrition and its impact on health and recovery, there is a strong case for including advanced nutrition training in the nursing school curriculum. Basic nutritional principles are imparted throughout the program but there is no dedicated course on the subject. This standalone course offered at the graduate level would review and build upon undergraduate nutrition content that is foundational for nursing students. It would emphasize dietary approaches for preventing and treating common chronic diseases, the most critical being diabetes mellitus. In addition, this course should have an applied approach. Such an approach helps to integrate dietary assessment and teaching strategies into clinical settings.

Options for nutrition nurses to get continuous training

But there is hope – there are a few options for nurses to get this type of training outside or after nursing school. The foremost choice is the National Board of Nutrition Support Certification (NBNSC), an independent credentialing board established by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN). It suits nurses, physicians, pharmacists, physician assistants, and dieticians. It is a US-based exam and is offered twice yearly, and the certification is valid for five years. Another option is becoming a Certified Nutritional Consultant (CNC) through The American Association of Nutritional Consultants (AANC). The AANC’s CNC focuses on professional competence in practicing nutritional counseling.

Research should be carried out to measure the impact of this type of training on clinical outcomes. There are many facets of clinical nutrition as a field that need to be adequately addressed and have our clinicians suitably trained in. Their impact needs to be closely studied as that will guide the evolution of this specialization so that it is more nuanced to patients’ needs, and more effective in its clinical impact.

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