Four futures for dietetics workforce supply and demand: 2012-2022 scenarios

The four future views of dietetics workforce supply and demand that will be discussed in this paper illustrate the critical changes and choices ahead for the profession if registered dietitians and dietetic technicians, registered want vital roles in nutrition, food, and health. These scenarios were built using a four-quadrant approach based on workforce supply and demand. This yielded four views: a preferred future of high supply, high demand; an underprepared future of low supply, high demand; an overproduced future of high supply, low demand, and a feared future of low supply, low demand. These scenarios are not projections about the future; rather, they are designed to help the profession prepare for the future. Registered dietitian leaders participating in a scenario workshop judged either the overproduced or underprepared scenarios to be the most likely future and the preferred future to be the most challenging for the profession.