MS Human Nutrition then MD

[GetSexyRightNow]

I did a search about this question, but I didn't really find too much. I am graduating soon and I'm not necessarily planning to apply to medical school right away. I have an interest in nutrition and in particular dietetics. I don't want to become an RD for several reasons, but I would like to study nutrition before pursuing medicine. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight about advanced nutrition education being a good supplement to have when practicing as a physician? I have heard from various doctors and medical students that the nutrition education in medical school is limited and doctors usually refer patients to RDs for diet advice. Also, I used dietetics and nutrition interchangeably in this post, but I mean nutrition study that includes counseling of patients rather than a research focused degree.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[LizzyM]

I think that it would be far more useful to take a fellowship in nutrition after residency and place your focus on specialty training related to the area of medicine you wish to practice (peds, internal medicine or one of its subspecialties such as cards, endocrinology or onc, family med). There are a handful of preventive medicine/internal medicine residencies that put a focus on clinical nutrition but some of the emphasis will be on clinical research.

Diet counseling is always going to be referred out because no one will pay a doctor's hourly rate for diet counseling that could be done by an allied health professional.

 

[tremulousNeedle]

Diet counseling is always going to be referred out because no one will pay a doctor's hourly rate for diet counseling that could be done by an allied health professional.

This is the key statement for why it will be less useful. The information would be great for building a knowledge base, especially if you do primary care or certain fellowships (GI, Endocrine). However, it does not pay for the doctor to spend their time utilizing this information in patient education. To simply stay afloat, you would need to be seeing patients for reasons that require a physician and not a nutritionist/dietician.

 

[GetSexyRightNow]

Thank you for the responses. I wouldn't mind doing the degree just out of personal interest. However, it is not cheap obviously and it does take 1-2 years depending on the program. Maybe I'll just take a some classes during my time off just for fun, but not for a degree...