The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics rightly touts the many advantages of a professional career as a dietitian nutritionist. Registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) have the great satisfaction of helping people live healthy and happy lives through nutrition's transformative power. Hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and other healthcare employers pay registered dietitian nutritionists handsomely in a field that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects to grow significantly.
You knew an RDN's rewards when you pursued your dietitian nutritionist degree. You made a good career choice. Don't let residency program misconduct charges delay or destroy that career. Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team if you face dietitian nutritionist residency program misconduct charges of any kind. Call 888.535.3686 now to tell us about your case, or complete this contact form. Get the skilled and experienced attorney representation you need to preserve your investment in your dietitian nutritionist education and career.
The Dietitian Nutritionist Credentialing Requirement
To enjoy the full benefits of a dietitian nutritionist career, you must generally obtain the registration credential. The Commission on Dietetic Registration is the credentialing agency for the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics. The Accreditation Council is an arm of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. You must meet the registration requirements the Academy sets out and the Commission enforces if you are to obtain your based RDN credential as a registered dietitian nutritionist or a specialty credential in gerontological nutrition (CSG), sports dietetics (CSSD), pediatric nutrition (CSP), renal nutrition (CSR), or oncology nutrition (CSO).
The Dietitian Nutritionist Supervised Practice Requirement
To earn your RDN credential, you know you need to complete your dietitian nutritionist degree from an accredited educational program. But you also then need to complete the Academy's supervised practice requirement, typically called a residency or sometimes called an internship. Your residency or internship must be in a program the Accreditation Council has approved. The Council approves hundreds of supervised practice sites nationwide. You must ordinarily complete one thousand hours of supervised practice, which is the equivalent of one-half year of full-time work. Residency programs tend to spread those hours across a full academic year. Your supervised practice may be in a dietetic Internship (DI), coordinated program (CP), graduate program (GP), or individualized supervised practice pathway (ISPP), as long as it is with an Accreditation Council-approved program.
Without the completed residency, you won't get to sit for the exam, obtain your RDN registration, and enter the field as a credentialed dietitian nutritionist. Completing your dietitian nutritionist supervised practice program in good standing is critical to your professional career and success. Your residency is the gate to your desired career. Don't let misconduct charges close that gate. Get our Student Defense Team's help defending those charges.
Entities Disciplining Dietitian Nutritionist Residents
You are in a highly regulated position when serving as a dietitian nutritionist. You have at least three entities, each with their own interest in regulating your professional behavior. A serious misstep, or serious allegations when you've done nothing wrong, can lead to misconduct charges from any one, two, or all three of those entities. Each entity has different rules and interests. Each entity may have significantly different procedures. Don't go it alone. Get our help, no matter which entity's charges you face.
Employer Discipline of the Dietitian Nutritionist Resident
Your dietitian nutritionist supervised practice occurs in a healthcare facility setting. That setting may be a hospital, nursing home, clinic, nutrition research facility, or even a corporate setting such as a food management service or food processor. No matter the setting, though, you are typically doing real work involving real patients, products, and services. The dietitian nutritionist residency at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital is an example. The hospital expects its dietitian nutritionist residents to meet each of the following employer requirements, the failure of which may result in discipline:
- respect, compassion, and integrity in all employment duties;
- respond appropriately to patient needs;
- be accountable to the profession and the public;
- demonstrate ongoing professional development;
- follow ethical principles for providing or withholding clinical care;
- preserve patient confidentiality;
- comply with employer business practices; and
- demonstrate sensitivity to patient culture, age, gender, and disabilities.
Licensing Body Discipline of the Dietitian Nutritionist Resident
While your employer at your residency site may pursue discipline for misconduct, so, too, may the licensing body for registration as a dietitian nutritionist. The Commission on Dietetic Registration, which licenses RDNs, follows a Code of Ethics for the Nutrition and Dietetics Profession. The Commission's Code of Ethics is extraordinarily broad, covering everything from basic competence to integrity (honesty), professionalism, and social responsibility. Violations of the Code of Ethics may result in a complaint to the Commission against you. Your employer, co-workers, patients, family members of patients, or anyone else may file a complaint against you. Even if your employer does not pursue discipline against you, attempting to terminate your residency, the Commission may pursue discipline, as a result of which your employer may also take action. Beware of credentialing agency discipline.
School Discipline of the Dietitian Nutritionist Resident
The college or university from which you earned or are earning your degree may also pursue disciplinary charges against you. While employers may be most interested in misconduct that threatens patients, co-workers, or the employer's reputation, your school has similar interests in protecting patients, students, teaching staff, and the school's own reputation. Thus, even if your residency program site and Commission licensing officials do not pursue disciplinary charges, your school may do so. Schools offering dietitian nutritionist degree programs, like Miami University, discipline student residents and interns under their own school student code of conduct and by adopting the Commission's Code of Ethics.
Forms of Dietitian Nutritionist Misconduct
Dietitian nutritionist residents may face misconduct issues and disciplinary charges in any number of different areas. Any discipline can be serious, whether it results in residency program termination or simply leaves a bad mark on your academic and employment record. Discipline can make registration more difficult, may delay your registration, or may even keep you from registering at all. Discipline may occur in any of the following areas.
Dietitian Nutritionist Resident Professionalism Issues
Professionalism issues can include personality conflicts with co-workers, insubordination or disrespect toward supervisors, disrespect toward patients, or issues with dress or demeanor.
Dietitian Nutritionist Resident Academic Progression Issues
Academic progression issues can include failing clinical evaluations, delays completing the program, or overly frequent withdrawals, resulting in unsatisfactory academic progress warnings, probation, and dismissal.
Dietitian Nutritionist Resident Substance Abuse
Substance abuse issues can include appearing for residency service while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or medications, possession or theft of controlled substances for personal misuse or illegal distribution, or simply mistaken allegations of impaired practice due to fatigue, illness, or medication reactions.
Dietitian Nutritionist Resident Sexual Misconduct
Sexual misconduct issues can include Title IX forms of misconduct such as sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, dating, or domestic violence, or non-Title IX forms of sexual misconduct such as sexual exploitation, voyeurism, pornography, and indecent exposure.
Dietitian Nutritionist Resident False Reporting
False reporting allegations can arise around the residency hours claimed in program service, the services performed for patients or the employer, patient conditions and complaints, or insurance and billing records.
Dietitian Nutritionist Misconduct Procedures
Fortunately, when you face misconduct charges in your dietitian nutritionist residency program, you should have some form of protective procedures for our Student Defense Team to invoke on your behalf to defend the charges. For example, the Commission on Dietetic Registration and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics offers elaborate disciplinary procedures beginning with a complaint process. You should receive notice of the complaint so that our attorneys have an opportunity to answer on your behalf. The Commission's ethics committee reviews the complaint and your answer to determine whether to proceed. That review gives our attorneys the opportunity to seek an early voluntary dismissal of the charges.
If the Commission's ethics committee determines to proceed with the charges, then the disciplinary procedures permit you to request a formal hearing on the charges. A formal hearing would give our attorneys the opportunity to present your defense witnesses and exhibits, and to challenge the disciplinary official's allegations. If you suffer an adverse decision, the ethics committee may impose serious sanctions right up to the rejection of your application for the credential or revocation of your prior registration. But the Commission's procedures also provide for your appeal to a panel the Academy appoints. Value your procedural protections. Retain our attorneys to help you navigate these procedures to their best effect.
Premier Student Defense Team Available
You know what you have invested in your dietitian nutritionist education and career. You also know the risks you face with misconduct charges in your residency program. The Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team has helped hundreds of students nationwide defend and defeat misconduct charges of all kinds. Call 888.535.3686 now to tell us about your case, or complete this contact form.
