Educating competent community nutritionists to fuel the future public health workforce

The public health workforce is facing a shortage of skilled practitioners. Dietetics students in a Coordinated Program must develop competence in foundation knowledge and skills associated with community nutrition. Amidst university budget cuts and a volatile economy, supervised practice experiences can be costly. Collaborative efforts with a state public health department can produce valuable opportunities to educate students. We developed a three-semester supervised practice track in community nutrition that was guided by current competency standards in dietetics and paralleled the goals and objectives of the Connecticut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan-Education (SNAP-Ed). “Hands-on” experiences reaching SNAP eligibles included nutrition education for children and families, social marketing initiatives, and program evaluation. Utilizing tracking documents, students engaged in a continuous cycle of self-assessment of competence and skills in community nutrition, many of which align with core competencies for public health professionals, e.g., assessment, communication, management and community-based research. Collectively, over three-quarters of the first and second cohorts “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that supervised practice experiences actualized foundation knowledge and enhanced confidence as students progressed to entry-level competence in community nutrition. University and public health goals were supported via cost-effective delivery of nutrition education while generating competent practitioners to enter the public health arena. Longer-term evaluation will include development of a survey tool for public health stakeholders to demonstrate continued value of this supervised practice track to increase entry-level competence in community nutrition while improving dietary quality and health of at-risk populations.