Would nutrition counseling (as a registered dietitian) count as PCE or HCE?

[thenutritionPA]

Hey everyone! I am on my way to become a registered dietitian but have dreams of become a PA someday. In regards to PCE, my goal is to land a clinical inpatient dietitian job once I finish my dietetic internship, which I see typically counts as PCE. However, I was curious on what others thought of outpatient counseling and private practice counseling for medical nutrition therapy because I have not seen any discussions on this before. What about if it's virtual counseling?

For reference (CASPA definitions):

PCE: “Experiences in which you are directly responsible for a patient's care. For example, prescribing medication, performing procedures, directing a course of treatment, designing a treatment regimen, actively working on patients as a nurse, paramedic, EMT, CNA, phlebotomist, physical therapist, dental hygienist, etc.”

HCE: “Both paid and unpaid work in a health or health-related field where you are not directly responsible for a patient's care, but may still have patient interaction; for example, filling prescriptions, performing clerical work, delivering patient food, cleaning patients and/or their rooms, administering food or medication, taking vitals or other record keeping information, working as a scribe, CNA (depending on job description), medical assistant, etc.”

Thanks so much!

[UGoLong]

I have seen several registered dietitians go on to become PAs, though mostly from the hospital environment where they can work across healthcare disciplines. Just my opinion, but I would suspect that that is the key: if you are part of a patient's healthcare team and work with the other providers. That might also be possible in the outpatient world.

Good luck!

[dukkulisur]

Hi there, RD here!  Private practice counseling should count as PCE, as you would still be following the nutrition care process by conducting a nutrition assessment, coming up with a nutrition diagnosis, and developing a nutrition care plan, even if it’s all done virtually.  In terms of selling yourself to admissions committees though, it might be more helpful to work in a setting (e.g. hospital, dialysis clinic) where you have more interaction with other disciplines and function more as part of a team.  One of my old RD coworkers opened her own private practice, and from my understanding she just received referrals and counseled for however many sessions were covered by the patient’s insurance, without much interaction with the referring providers or anyone else caring for the patient.  Working as a clinical inpatient dietitian is a great place to start (that’s where I started off), as you will be exposure to a wide variety of patient acuities and disease states, and will more regularly interact with physicians, nursing, social work, speech therapy, etc. to address each patient’s plan of care.  Just my two cents!  Good luck!

[thenutritionPA]

@UGoLong @dukkulisur

Thank you both so much for your thoughtful responses, I really appreciate it! My goal is definitely to find an inpatient clinical job once I finish my DI but I want to be open to other job opportunities if they could count for PCE/HCE. You both have encouraged me, thanks so much!