In order to become a dietitian, I had to earn a bachelor’s degree in dietetics; lots of pre-medical courses, mixed with food and nutrition sciences. I learned the in’s and outs of what specific nutrients can do for the body and what we need to properly nourish it. Post-undergrad, I spent another 10 months in an internship at the University of Michigan Hospitals. I worked in the hospital studying, absorbing, and learning new information about how nutrition plays a key role in recovery and disease prevention. I was part of the medical team. We all had a role; physicians had their eyes on ME when blood sugar levels got too high or electrolytes were imbalanced. They wanted to know what the DIETITIAN recommended. Upon completion of my internship, I was then required to sit for an exam to become a registered dietitian. When I passed, I had finally earned the right to say I’m a nutritional expert. I am a registered dietitian.
Doctors. Doctors are no joke. From observing and interacting with them at U of M, my respect for physicians grew. They work LONG, grueling hours, and climb lots of hills to get where they are. They earn every cent they make and are probably underpaid. They have A LOT going on and are required to know a little bit about EVERYTHING. They are smart. Period.
However, although physicians may have all the knowledge in the world when it comes to diseases, operations, and medicines, they don’t always have a strong nutritional knowledge. Yes, they might understand that a diabetic needs to watch their diet but do they sit down and map out what exactly that diabetic needs to be eating or explain WHY they have diabetes? Do they know the best butter to choose or diet to follow for a cardiac patient? Do they know how many calories you need?
In my profession, I’ve noticed many physicians will wrongly provide nutritional advice and rarely discuss the harsh reality of obesity with their patients, especially in children. Why? Because they just don’t know how to address it!
When providing nutritional advice, I often hear, “well, my doctor said his weight is fine,” or “my doctor said formula is now as good as breast milk,” or “my doctor told me to put my 3 year old on a diet!!” What their doctors SHOULD be saying is,” let me refer you to a dietitian who can better help answer your questions.”
Call me frustrated, but dietitians are often overshadowed by the doctor’s word. In actuality, we have a thorough understanding of many different diseases and illnesses, the same as physicians; we just specialize in the role nutrition plays!
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I’m not trying to bash physicians, like I said, they are SMART!! I am simply stating that with every thing else a physician needs to know, nutrition is not their strong point. I think they might take one nutrition class in college?
The bottom line; there are dietitians for a reason. Dietitians can help guide you to PROPER nutritional information. If you have nutritional concerns, see the experts: in the form of a dietitian.
Looking for a dietitian? Check out the ADA website: www.eatright.org
Check out this article from the NY Times. This physician is admitting that he has a lack of nutritional knowledge!
QUESTIONS:
- What are your thoughts?
- Do you hear family and friends with nutritional concerns being referred to a dietitian?
- Do you go to your doctor for nutritional advice?
Bravo for that! Though I am teaching 3 unit course in Nutrition among freshman Medical students at a University- still they cannot digest all there is to know about nutrition. It is simply giving them a glimpse of what nutrition is all about and at the same time encouraging the new generation doctors to refer patients to Nutrition specialist- the Dietitians.
I totally agree. But the situation of the profession here is, I think, far worse than in the US. I am a registered dietitian here in the Philippines (here, we are called registered nutritionist-dietitians or RND) but I’m in the academe teaching nutrition and dietetics majors in the university. The only reason why I didn’t bother working as a dietitian in a hospital is because if I did, I would get my orders from the nurse. Most hospitals here are organized by placing the dietary department under the nursing services, when the ideal set-up would be to place both departments at the same level as equal members of the medical team. This ideal set-up would direct all members of the medical team to work TOGETHER by contributing each member’s expertise based on the member’s profession, credentials, and most importantly, education. The result of this current set-up dictates that when decisions regarding the patient’s diet are made, dietitians defer to the nurse. Not only do we have problems with some physicians playing dietitians here, we also have nurses trying to take our job. But like the author of the post above, I having nothing against doctors and nurses. I think they’re doing an amazing job, as doctors and nurses, NOT as dietitians.
I am European and here ONLY doctors who completed the entire medical training ( 6 years of University + 4 years of residency )can specialize on Nutrition and be certified as a Dietitian. So,here, basically, every Dietitian is a doctor. Those who are not cannot officially and legally call themselves dietitian or nutritionists and no insurance will be covered for their services … The “scammers” call themselves “holistics” but no middle class educated person would ever buy their stuff, so they aim mostly to the poor and ignorant ! All the Dietitians I know ( and everybody in my familly is a doctor work in hospitals, and in their free time, they have their private consultations. The hospital stuff is all free ( through the national healthcare system) and the private one is with paying you own money. In hospital they deal mostly with diabetes and metabolic malfunction om private they guide any type of patient who is willing to get thinner and healthier . You call, you get appointed,you pay, but everytime you get a nutrition advice is from a ertified doctor with all the diplomas.
[...] I begin, I wanted to share another reason why doctors don’t always know best when it comes to nutritional advice. A client came in to me this morning and discussed that her [...]
What a great and very exciting post! I really enjoyed reading it! I think that sometimes nutritionist and dietitians might have more insightful information regarding certain areas like nutritional health etc. and I think doctors perhaps know more about medical advice dealing with illness and disease.
Really interesting to think about!
My doctor was super super tiny. Amazingly Skinny (less than 100 pounds for sure) and 5 feet tall. She just kept telling me to go the mypyramid.gov or something like that, but those standards seem hard! Basically she said, eat lean protien, vegetables and fruit, but there were specific guidelines. 5 vegetables a day, this many servings of fruit, and she would tell you at the end of the visit and that was it. I am now just trying to figure this all out on my own!
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I completely agree with you! I will get patients that come in my office and tell me some bogus thing their doctor said to do or try. It is also so much harder to correct whatever misinformation was given.
Most doctors only are required to take one nutrition class when going to school so it makes sense that they should want to refer to us more.
its so varied. a lot of doctors are mainly focused or most knowledgeable in one aspect of health.. or a certain part of the body. dieticians can be fantastic when ur looking for answers based more on nutrition and healing versus a bone density scan or blood pressure checkup etc. not all doctors are equal and i guess not all dieticians may be either but theres definitely a lot of perks for choosing a dietician over a doctor for fueling our bodies. they definitely have great credentials too!! <3
I completely agree! Heck, my own doctor is quite overweight himself! I certainly wouldn’t be taking nutritional advice from him. o.O
What a great post! I’ve been struggling with gaining weight, and although I’ve seen my doctor, I probably need to visit a dietitian. Thanks for sharing…I’m going to check out that website now!
PS: Are you going to FNCE?
Wow! Awesome post. I can go on and on about this. I work in the Weight Management Clinic on Friday afternoons for a well know Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, MO. I spend over an hour teaching my nutrition class on how to make healthier changes for overweight children and their parents. After my class, the doctors go in and contradict what I say….I’m like what did you just tell them? Don’t get me wrong, some Doctors are better than others and really do ask for RD’s advice, but at times it is like Dr. you have no idea what you are talking about lol!
interesting, and i totally agree. i have had many similar experiences with my doctors, trying to figure out why all these things were wrong with me years back only to find out it’s because i wasn’t feeding myself properly! i still think physicians are totally smart though!
I started out in a college program to be a dietitian (and eventually changed my major, but I did have many related classes) and now I work with a team of dietitians every day. While I am not one myself, I have gained a great deal of knowledge on the subject over the years, and I try to keep learning at every opportunity. I DO find it frustrating when I have medical issues and I know nutrition should be addressed, but instead a pill is prescribed. This was especially true when I had Gestational Diabetes. I knew more about what I should do upon my diagnosis than my OB did. Not to bash him, because I did like him a lot, but I should have been seeing a dietitian. Instead, I sought out the advice of one myself. All turned out well, but I totally get your point. I think your post is a valuable one because some people might not know that consulting a dietitian is an option. You have to be your own advocate sometimes, and it’s helpful to know what your resources are.
What a great and very exciting post! I really enjoyed reading it! I think that sometimes nutritionist and dietitians might have more insightful information regarding certain areas like nutritional health etc. and I think doctors perhaps know more about medical advice dealing with illness and disease.
Really interesting to think about!
I remember learning about this is my intro to dietitics course- how doctors turn to dietitians for advice and what not..that they’re actually a part of a medical team as much as any other medical professional. I know I’d never go to a doctor for nutritional advice. They know a lot about the anatomy of the human body, but very very little about food and how those chemicals act in the body and what they do for us.
Thank you so much for writing this post!! We really need to spread the word and let people know what we do and why they need us!
I completely agree with this post! Especially after my doctor visit yesterday. My midwives can tell me how I am with my blood pressure, blood work, and other things about the baby’s health/position/etc. But they should not question my eating habits when they do not necessarily have the nutritional background. I’m not an expert, but I am an expert in my body.
I bet dietitians are under-utilized resources. I’d guess lots of people don’t think they need professional advice about food (“I’ve been eating my whole life! I think I’ve got it down.”) But in reality, I don’t think people know enough about nutrition and in general do not think of food as fuel for their body. I’ve found that people have so many misconceptions about food, and many have bad (even dangerous) relationships with it.
I think dietitians could do a lot of good for a lot of people…as long as the people are willing to follow through.
I trust Drs to deal with disease and illness… nutrition is not a subject that I like to discuss with my Doc
For some reason I see Dietitians as like super-doctors with a specialty I need. I keep saying I want to go but I don’t. It’s like a physical, sometimes you need one to keep you in check.
I’m not really a fan of doctors. Yes, I’ve been to some that are great (I love the doctor I have now) but most of the time they don’t seem to care and I’ve gotten so much wrong medical advice from them. Would I go to one for nutritional advice? Never. I think that I probably know more about nutrition then they do!