Japanese Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism:
Overview of the Accreditation System for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Therapists
■ Enactment of this System
The accreditation system for clinical nutrition and metabolism therapists enables therapists to select one of nine fields*1 to which they want to apply*2 to obtain accreditation (higher-level qualification of NST therapist). The accreditation period of this system is five (5) years, the same as for NST therapists and renewal is required. A feature of this accreditation system is that it allows this Society to organize instructors into groups for each of the fields indicated below, differentiating our Society from other ones, with the goal of further developing the human resources capabilities of the Society members by improving their skills in the fields of specialization they have chosen for themselves.
*1: The nine fields consist of the following:
1) Cancer therapist
2) Lung disease therapist
3) Liver disease therapist
4) Kidney disease therapist
5) Rehabilitation therapist
6) Home care therapist
7) Pediatrics therapist
8) dysphagia therapist
9) Perioperative care and emergency and intensive care therapist
Therapists may select only one field for accreditation.
*2: This accreditation system includes a provisional accreditation period of five (5) years when initially implemented (click here to refer to the provisional accreditation system).
■ Start of Procedures for this Accreditation System
The procedures for this accreditation system will start from accreditation in 2025 (application starts in 2024), five (5) years after the establishment of this provisional accreditation system. The requirements for initial accreditation and renewal thereafter are the same and as indicated below. Among these are the mandatory requirements (indicated by a ★) for a presentation (lead presenter only) at an academic meeting of this Society (JSPEN) and education to maintain quality. The total amount of credits is calculated from after obtaining NST therapist accreditation when accredited for the first time and from the date of the previous accreditation when renewing, until the application deadline of the year of application.
◎ Attachment 1: Requirements for Acquiring/Renewing this Accreditation
| Accreditation Condition | Acquire/Renew Accreditation |
|---|---|
| Paper (for each field) | 20 units/paper |
| Presentation at JSPEN academic meeting (for each field) | |
| Society academic meeting (limited to lead presenter) | ★ 10 units/meeting |
| Branch academic meeting (limited to lead presenter) | 10 units/meeting |
| Participation in JSPEN academic meeting | |
| Society academic meeting | 5 units/meeting |
| Branch academic meeting | 5 units/meeting |
| Participation in seminar for JSPEN*3, 4 | |
| Accreditation System for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Therapists Seminars in the corresponding field*3, 4 or JSPEN Nutrition Master Course | ★ 20 units/seminar |
| LLL Live Course | |
| Participation | 10 units/meeting |
| Pass | 20 units/meeting |
| Units Required for Renewal |
50 units or more are required |
*3: This accreditation system requires the maintenance of quality through education. Among the current seminars, taking the JSPEN Nutrition Master Course considered relevant is mandatory due to the requirement of an educational system as one of the required conditions for accreditation and renewal, but this condition does not apply to other types of seminars. However, as there is a possibility that the current class capacity of the Master Course does not meet the needs of those who wish to acquire accreditation, the JSPEN Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Therapist Seminar (provisional name) (hereinafter referred to as "target field seminar") has been newly added to accommodate this situation (the condition for taking this seminar only applies to NST therapists but not towards units for renewing NST therapist accreditation).
This means that therapists are required to take either a target field seminar of the field in which a therapist is accredited or the JSPEN Nutrition Master Course of the target field.
*4: Multiple target field seminars are scheduled in a year to be held for fields with a large number of therapists desiring accreditation.
For fields with a small number of accredited therapists, target field seminars can be held together in groupings of related fields. Although the objective is to improve therapists' specialized skills by field, it is acceptable to include common subjects due to the large areas of overlap in actual clinical practice. Certificates of completion are issued for the field applied for.
■ Changes to the Field Applied for
Persons who wish to change the field they applied for after being accredited must provide notification during the annual accreditation application period. Changes or extensions of the accreditation period are not possible. Additionally, all conditions for renewal of the field after changing must be satisfied from the application date until the renewal deadline determined prior to the change.
■ Expiration of Accreditation
An accreditation that is not renewed before the renewal application deadline is considered to be expired on that date. However, if renewal is not possible due to the failure to fulfill the requirements, a therapist may apply for renewal one (1) year later if the specified credits are obtained during that time (remedy regulations are applied thereafter). Nonetheless, the accreditation is considered expired during this year.
Even if applying for renewal one (1) year later according to remedial measures, the total accreditation period will not be extended, and the next renewal will be four years later (full period minus one year during which renewal was not possible).
Additionally, an accreditation will become invalid if a therapist is not able to renew his/her base NST therapist qualification or if the therapist becomes a non-member. In such cases the remedial regulations do not apply to this accreditation and qualification system.