I don’t know about you, but when I meet folks who are similar to me in very specific ways, it sparks excitement and connection. In this first podcast of our new season, we welcomed Kortney Brown, NP, RD and Whitney Trotter, MS, RDN/LDN, RN, RYT. We are all dietitians and nurses and two of us are nurse practitioners. Whitney is currently finishing her clinical rotations to become a doctorate nurse practitioner. Additionally, we have found symmetry together in choosing to work in the eating disorder area of our fields.  

We’ll hear from Kortney, Whitney, and myself on the podcast around why we chose to combine our degrees as dietitians, nurses and nurse practitioners. We’ll discuss what has and has not worked in terms of our degree combinations. For example, can we really work as both dietitians and nurse practitioners in our respective fields? Does the workplace value a dual degree? Does this dual degree mean more to us personally in terms of how we reach patients? How could our education shift to best support new clinicians to be out in the throws of practice? We also touch upon full practice authority and genetic psychopharmacologic testing.

The discussion with Kortney and Whitney helped cement for me, again, why I chose to combine the fields of dietetics and nursing so many years ago. The three of us, and potentially more folks who have chosen to combine their degrees similarly, will definitely be having more conversations! I hope you enjoy what was an extraordinary combination of minds, ideas and passion in our field.