If you had read the item or its associated piece then you would understand the reference to the kitten.

I wonder if the Nursing and Midwifery Council has any guidelines as to how registered nurses should market their services when operating outside the NHS?

Most nurses acquire a clinical knowledge of diet from working with dietitians as part of the multidisciplinary team. Likewise, dietitians pick up lots of tips about the screening and management of patients from the nurses expertise. I have a great respect for the knowledge and people skills of the nurses I work with, and I for one would not be capable of their ‘hands-on’ profession of caring for a patient from life to death, and dealing with the stress of managing the patient and the relatives…. I salute them.

Of major concern is the graduate nurse who quickly moves out into private practice, or takes a nutritional course that supposedly builds on their clinical knowledge. I have come across several in my career, usually ION trained, who are completely oblivious that their useless – not to say harmful – advice to clients with serious health problems creates more health issues than they manage.

The major concern is that the RGN qualification affords them a degree of respectability for the client seeking nutritional guidance. That they are unconciously incompetent in the subject is a greater worry than being aware of their limitations.

For any readers of this column, especially in the Surrey/ Sussex/ Kent area I would strongly advise checking that your ‘RGN Nutritionist’ is either registered with the Nutrition Society, or the Health Professions Council. If they are ‘registered’ with any other supposed ‘Nutritional Body’ – stay well clear.
Caveat emptor.

Thank you :) We’ll soon be launching the holfordwatch Chair in Nutrition and Mental Health, to further explore the benefits of blogging in the context of maintaining sanity ;)

Regarding training for nutritional therapists I think they should all be working towards a BSc level qualifications, unless they have a relevant first degree such as biochemistry or food science.

Who is Dr Culp?

You’re right to take me up on a comment that could be taken to imply that the nursing profession in general knows little about nutrition. Certainly not what I meant to imply, and yes, from my experience nurses spend a good deal of time updating their knowledge in nutrition relating to their practice (with training often provided by dieticians). My main issue is with the teaching of a subject supposedly to be practised at a professional level without a formal qualification specifically in that subject.

I’m not sure there is a shortage of dietitians, but rather funding for posts …..

This is a great site, keeps me sane and makes me laugh. Thanks.

I hope you get a response from the Bedfordshire police ….

Thanks for the link to the BCNH which I enjoyed reading. I particularly liked
“Following graduation at BCNH, X was invited to become a Tutor at the college”. However, my favourite has be this strangely worded sentence “Apart from science-based evidence, we believe in working with the medical profession, not against them”. Finally, could Bedfordshire police tell us why they did not use a dietician or nurse to help with their health programme? (See http://www.bcnh.co.uk/practitioners.html)

I think I can trump you with an even crankier website: http://www.nutritionalmed.co.uk/htm/about.htm “Self-taught and formally trained therapists can join the Register as Full Members and work up the ladder of educational courses to attain the level at which they choose to work”

Check this one out:

http://www.bcnh.co.uk/about/about1_2.html

does the name Dr Culp ring any bells?