A MODEL FOR MAKING OUTCOMES RESEARCH STANDARD PRACTICE IN CLINICAL DIETETICS

In today's rapidly changing health care environment, it is imperative that dietitians demonstrate the importance of their role as health car e providers by initiating and participating in outcomes research, Pati ent care should be based on empirical studies, and clinical dietitians should participate in br be at the helm of such investigations. Nutri tion research is usually accomplished and reported by persons with MD or PhD degrees who do not have clinical training in nutrition and does not often address situations encountered by dietitians in clinical se ttings. This article examines the extent to which clinical dietitians are conducting and reporting outcomes research, their attitudes about such research, and how they think they could best acquire the skills n eeded to incorporate outcomes research into their practice. Results in dicate that clinical dietitians are not writing a substantial percenta ge of articles and that reports of outcomes research are not commonly included in clinical nutrition journals. Clinical dietitians appear to value the inclusion of research in clinical practice, but they are no t spending a great amount of time doing research. Dietitians report be ing comfortable about participating in research but not about designin g, conducting, and reporting research. Results from several surveys we re used to develop a model for integrating research in clinical practi ce. This model includes the research process as a basis for clinical p ractice. A model for collaborative efforts between clinical and academ ic dietitians is also proposed and emphasizes the responsibility of ac ademic dietetics training programs in the integration of research and clinical practice.