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Running Head:Integrating Registered Dietitian & Physician

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Integrating Registered Dietitian & Physician Practices
Courtney Willis
Northeastern State University

INTEGRATING REGISTERED DIETITAN AND PHYSICIAN PRACTICES
Introduction
In most health care settings, different professionals practicing in different disciplines usually come together to help take care of patients. This is typically known as a team based approach. Researchers have found that integrating this approach is a key component to better treat patients, specifically undeserved populations and communities with limited access to health care (Pinto et al., 2012). Teamwork in health care is the …show more content…

These health care teams often are made up of many different types of professionals including doctors, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, therapists, registered dietitians (RD), and many other different types of technologists and technicians. Although all of these members of the team are essential, the role registered dietitian’s play and the knowledge they contribute is vital to many different specialties in health care. According to a study by Kelly Adams, Karen Lindell, Martin Kolhmeier, and Steven Zeisel, only 30% of medical schools require an actual separate course in nutrition. Although their curriculum may include nutrition throughout the many different courses a physician has to take, this is an inadequate amount of time being spent on nutrition to be considered and expert in this field, which results in the vitality of having and maintaining a RD on their team. Nutrition can prevent and help treat many different problems that arise in clinical care and the different specialties that it entails.
Primary Care Integrating a registered dietitian and their nutritional knowledge into primary care can play an important role in prevention and management of the majority of conditions seen in this setting. For example, in primary care offices general medicine is practiced. It is where patients go for routine checkups or non-emergency medical care. This means the majority of time the professionals

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