Abstract
BackgroundAs is common across the health professions, training of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) requires experiential learning for interns/students to gain skills and demonstrate entry-level competency. Preceptors are essential to the experiential learning component of health care professional training, providing supervision and mentoring as students and interns gain the skills required for entry-level practice competency. Over the past 27 years, 47–73% of applicants to dietetic internships have received a placement. Practitioners willing to volunteer as preceptors are needed to generate more internship or experiential learning opportunities for the profession to continue to meet workforce demands.MethodsThe objective of this national-level online cross-sectional survey was to identify perceptions and attitudes associated with the preceptor role and incentives that might encourage precepting by current RDNs. A random sample of RDN and Nutrition and Dietetic Technicians, Registered (NDTR) professionals from the Commission on Dietetic Registration credentialed practitioner database were eligible to participate in the online survey. The main outcome measures included perceptions, attitudes, and preferred incentives to precept compared by preceptor experience categories (current, former, never precepted). Comparisons of perceptions, attitudes, and preferred incentives were made between preceptor experience categories using Chi-square and ANOVA.ResultsOf 2464 invitations, 308 participants had complete variables for analysis. Top incentives were the opportunity to earn continuing education units (65.9%) and having expenses paid to attend a national conference (49.5%). Significantly more (P < 0.001) “former” and “never” preceptors reported the ability to choose when to take an intern, training on how to teach and communicate with interns, and access to an “on-call” specialist as incentives compared to “current” preceptors. Significantly more (P < 0.01) “never” preceptors reported training on internship expectations and the ability to provide input on intern selection process as incentives compared to “current” or “former” preceptors.ConclusionsIncentives to serve as a preceptor differ based on “current”, “former”, or “never” precepted status. Promoting and strategizing solutions to the current imbalance between the greater number of dietetic internship applicants compared to preceptors should be targeted based on preceptor status to retain current preceptors, encourage former preceptors to return and recruit professionals who have never served.
Highlights
As is common across the health professions, training of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) requires experiential learning for interns/students to gain skills and demonstrate entry-level competency
Promoting and strategizing solutions to the current imbalance between the greater number of dietetic internship applicants compared to preceptors should be targeted based on preceptor status to retain current preceptors, encourage former preceptors to return and recruit professionals who have never served
Of the 354 respondents who completed the survey, respondents who did not indicate that they were an RD/RDN or DTR/ NDTR (n = 22), who no longer worked in the nutrition field (n = 5), or who did not answer the question indicating their preceptor status were excluded
Summary
As is common across the health professions, training of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) requires experiential learning for interns/students to gain skills and demonstrate entry-level competency. As is common across the health professions, the successful preparation of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) and Nutrition and Dietetic Technicians, Registered (NDTRs) requires training in the practice setting to complement the didactic coursework. Dietetic internships, coordinated programs and FEM graduate programs all require experiential learning, or supervised practice, for the interns/students to gain the required skills and demonstrate entry-level competency in the field. The routes to meet the eligibility requirements for the registration exam for nutrition and dietetic technicians include completion of an accredited associate’s degree program that includes didactic coursework and experiential learning, requiring preceptors for supervision, or completion of a bachelor’s degree including an accredited didactic program in dietetics [5]
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