Ohio Board of Dietetics

Today we were set to have a Karen, the executive director from the Ohio Board of Dietetics, come in to talk with us. Unfortunately she couldn't make it, but Dr. Holben spoke about the agency instead. He had a term on the the OBD, so we were able to hear information about the agency from his first hand experience. The Ohio Board of Dietetics is a government agency that has is own state licensure laws for dietetic professionals in the state of Ohio. Their mission is to effectively protect the public by regulating the practice of dietetics through licensure, and by fairly and consistently enforcing the laws and rules governing nutritional practices.

The program is funded completely by licensure fees. These fees are about $100 a year, and there are about 3,000 members. Registered dietitians play a large role in the Ohio Board of Dietetics because the executive director must be an RD. There are also five dietitian members and a dietetics educator on the Board. All members who are licensed in the state of Ohio must follow all of the regulations to protect the public. For example, RDs must take part in continuing education credits, jurisprudence events, and ethical CPEs. Members are evaluated on their adherence to these regulations, and could lose their licenses if they do not adhere to the guidelines. It was interesting to hear about the board. Each state has different licensure in dietetics. Ohio actually has the most regulations of all of the states. This will definitely help me when i am at the point in my career when I need to have state licensure to practice dietetics.

My group also met the second half of class and we talked about the relevant research of the plants we are planting in our garden for the DASH diet. We are all meeting on Monday morning to work in the garden. We are also all working on the assessment workbook, and making good progress.