Nutrition for Healthcare Providers, Advanced Certificate
Curriculum

Major Requirements

Prerequisite Course Credits:
CLNU 787 Independent Study 1
Independent study in nutrition. Course will be designed by the student under faculty supervision. May include clinical experience and research, as well as research in clinical or applied topics.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 0-1-1
Students who do not have a previous nutrition course must take the prerequisite course, which includes a review of introductory nutrition. This one credit will count towards the required nine credits of elective courses.
 
Required Course Credits:
CLNU 608 Nutritional Therapy 3
This course is an overview of the practice of clinical nutrition. The pathogenesis, altered requirements due to disease states and/or concomitant therapeutic measures, interactions between drugs and nutrient requirements, and subsequent rationale for nutritional management of the patient will be explored. Methods for patient feeding, including parenteral as well as enteral routes, are discussed with respect to advantages and disadvantages of each technique, concerns regarding the cost efficiency, and formula composition and preparation methods. Students will learn to chart nutrition notes in medical charts using the SOAP system.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
 
Electives (choose 9 credits) Credits:
CLNU 615 Topics in Applied Nutrition 3
This course investigates practical solutions in which socioeconomic status, cultural preference, medical or psychological alterations or other factors may interfere with successful nutritional compliance. Patient groups include the geriatric patient, the handicapped adult or child, and the person with multiple nutrition problems. It will be of value to those pro­fessionals who plan to do private consulting and home health care as well as to those who will be working in a health care institution.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
CLNU 630 Critical Issues in the Food Supply 2
The focus of this course is on understanding the wide ranging effects of the American food system. Selected issues will include changes in food consumption patterns over the last century, changes in nutrient profile of foods, new technologies for home and institutional food preparation, and the effect of modern agribusiness upon the environment. Emphasis is on the influence of cultural diversity, fast foods, and other factors on the American dietary intake.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 2-0-2
CLNU 635 Community Nutrition 2
Techniques for development, funding, assessment, and evaluation of projects in community and government resources will be studied. Current legislative issues will be discussed along with the methodology necessary to stimulate activities on these issues. Resources for the consumer, including community action and government outreach programs, will be reviewed.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 2-0-2
CLNU 645 Nutritional Contributions of Food 2
The structure and physical properties of foods are examined with respect to nutrient content and distribution in the food supply. The effects of agricultural methods, market handling, processing, and home preparation on nutrient quality are considered. The interaction of food components in food preparation methods is discussed and factors that influence food taste, texture, and appearance are explored.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 2-0-2
CLNU 772 Nutritional Pharmacology 3
For the major classes of drugs currently used in medical therapy, this course will review absorption, distribution, pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and excretion. Interactions with nutrients and dietary constituents at any point in these processes, as well as known and potential drug-nutrient-food relationships, dose response considerations, and potential toxicity, will be discussed. Drug nutrient interaction risk will be explored for the patient on parenteral nutrition support, the ambulatory nutrient-compromised patient, and the nutrient-replete patient. Specific, commonly prescribed drugs, together with their specific interactions with food and nutrients, will be covered. The course will provide a mechanistic, rather than an encyclopedic approach, to provide students the tools to assess potential drug-nutrient interactions in new drugs as they are introduced.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
CLNU 774 Exercise Physiology for Nutrition 3
This course explores the way the human body maintains homeostasis when faced with changing physical demands. Various topics in physiology and exercise physiology will be reviewed, both in general mechanisms and in specific applications to health and pathologies. Emphasis will be placed on neuromuscular and cardiovascular/respiratory physiology. The course will consist of weekly sessions, including three assigned projects, and student presentations. This course will enable the student to understand the various processes that occur: (1) as the direct result of acute exercise; and (2) as the result of chronic exercise, stressing the physiological processes and mechanisms involved and as a result of pathological conditions. Specific topics will include basic muscle, nerve, and cardiopulmonary physiology, as well as bioenergetics, weight control and exercise, diabetes and exercise, exercise testing protocols, electrocardiography, ergogenic aids, fatigue, and other topics related to the needs of the students attending the class.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-0-3
CLNU 779 Nutrition Oncology 4
The process of carcinogenesis will be reviewed to provide the foundation needed to address the role of nutrition in the prevention and treatment of cancer. The course will provide challenging discussions about controversies in dietary exposure assessment using questionnaires and biological markers in cancer risk assessment. The course will also explore the biology of nutrition and cancer including nutrigenomics, nutrigenetics, epigenetics, and energy balance. Further, the evidence from specific foods, macronutrients, micronutrients, dietary trace metals, and other food constituents will be explored.

Classroom Hours - Laboratory and/or Studio Hours – Course Credits: 3-2-4
    Total: 9 Credits
 
Total Required Credits = 12–13