Nebraska § 38-1817 - Licensed nutritionist; eligibility; qualifications.

§ 38-1817. Licensed nutritionist; eligibility; qualifications.

A person shall be eligible to be a licensed nutritionist if such person is eighteen years of age or older, submits a completed application as required by the board, submits fees required by the board, and furnishes evidence of:

(1) Certification as a certified nutrition specialist or proof of successful completion of the examination administered by the board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists of the American Nutrition Association or a similar successor entity approved by the department or an equivalent examination dealing with all aspects of the practice of dietetics and nutrition approved by the department;

(2)(a) A master's or doctoral degree from a college or university accredited at the time of graduation from the appropriate accrediting agency recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation and the United States Department of Education with a major course of study as approved by the board that provides the knowledge requirements necessary for the competent provision of medical nutrition therapy; or

(b) An academic degree from a foreign country that has been validated as equivalent to the degree and course of study described in subdivision (a) of this subdivision as determined by the board;

(3) Successful completion of coursework leading to competence in medical nutrition therapy which includes (a) fifteen semester hours of clinical or life sciences, including such courses as chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, molecular biology, biotechnology, botany, genetics, genomics, neuroscience, experimental science, immunotherapy, pathology, pharmacology, toxicology, research methods, applied statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology, energy production, molecular pathways, hormone and transmitter regulations and imbalance, and pathophysiologic base of disease, with at least three semester hours in human anatomy and physiology or the equivalent, and (b) fifteen semester hours of nutrition and metabolism, with at least six semester hours in biochemistry or an equivalent approved by the board; and

(4) Successful completion of a board-approved, planned, continuous internship or a documented, planned, continuous, supervised practice experience with a qualified supervisor, demonstrating competency in nutrition-care services and the provision of medical nutrition therapy comprised of not less than one thousand hours involving at least two hundred hours of nutrition assessment and nutrition diagnosis, two hundred hours of nutrition intervention or counseling, and two hundred hours of nutrition monitoring and evaluation. A minimum of seven hundred hours of the supervised practice experience is required in professional work settings, and no more than three hundred hours may be in alternate supervised experiences such as observational interactions between patient and practitioner, simulation, case studies, or role playing. This experience shall be under the supervision of a qualified supervisor. Qualified supervisors shall provide general supervision of an applicant's supervised practice experience in the provision of medical nutrition therapy and provide appropriate supervision of an applicant's provision of other nutrition-care services that do not constitute medical nutrition therapy. For purposes of this subdivision, a supervisor shall be licensed in this state if supervising an applicant providing medical nutrition therapy to a person in this state. A supervisor who obtained a doctoral degree outside of the United States and territories of the United States shall have the degree validated as equivalent to a doctoral degree conferred by an accredited college or university in the United States by a credential evaluation agency recognized by the United States Department of Education.