Four Baystate Dietitians Earn Key Recertification

SPRINGFIELD — Four Baystate Health dietitians — Leatrice Finck, Alice O’Connor, Lora Warren, and Young Hee Kim — were recently recertified as certified nutrition support clinicians (CNSC). The National Board for Nutrition Support Certification and its credentialing program promote the safe delivery of nutrition support by certified professionals who have the necessary level of knowledge and skills to provide quality care. Nutrition support is the delivery of feedings through tubes or IV when a patient is unable to eat.

The CNSC examination measures an individual’s knowledge of safe and effective multi-disciplinary practice in nutrition support and provides formal recognition of nutrition-support knowledge. A total of seven CNSC-registered dietitians work in the Baystate Health system. In addition to these practitioners, Cecilia Wei, Lois Levin, and Anne Maher have also passed this rigorous exam and are certified in nutrition support.

Nationally, there are only 4,200 certified nutrition support clinicians in practice, 90{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of whom are registered dietitians. The remaining practitioners are nurses, pharmacists, physicians, and physician assistants. While all registered dietitians working in an inpatient setting must demonstrate competency in nutrition support, these practitioners are practicing at an advanced level.