TRAINING DIETETIC TECHNICIANS THROUGH DISTANCE LEARNING: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND IMPACT ON THE LABOR MARKET

Resumo

Introduction: The growing demand for Nutrition and Dietetic Technicians, Registered (NDTR) in the United States, combined with the contraction in accredited program offerings and geographic inequalities in access to professional education, creates a structural gap in the American nutritional health system. Distance learning (DL) emerges as a promising strategy to address this deficit, but lacks a systematized synthesis evaluating its feasibility and impact. Objective: To synthesize available evidence on the effectiveness, curricular structure, and socioeconomic impact of DL applied to dietetic technician training, identifying the most appropriate educational technologies for remote practical instruction and the implications for public education policies. Methodology: Systematic literature review conducted following PRISMA 2020 guidelines (PAGE et al., 2021), with searches in PubMed/MEDLINE, ERIC, Web of Science, and Scopus databases, covering publications from January 2021 to December 2025. Descriptors included combinations of “dietetic technician,” “NDTR,” “distance education,” “nutrition education,” “online learning,” “blended learning,” “health professions education,” and “virtual simulation.” The PICO framework guided the research question and eligibility criteria. Thirty-two studies were included after screening by titles, abstracts, and full text, with methodological quality assessed using JBI and MERSQI instruments. Results: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation in health professions education, consolidating hybrid and remote models (JEFFRIES et al., 2022). In 2025, only 18 NDTR programs remained accredited by ACEND in the United States, with four offering fully online didactic curricula. The labor market projects 6% employment growth in nutrition between 2024 and 2034, with a growing deficit of qualified professionals (BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, 2024). Virtual simulation, problem-based learning, and synchronous platforms proved effective for developing practical competencies at a distance (MITCHELL; IVIMEY-COOK, 2023; RUSLI; SEAH; LEVETT-JONES, 2022). The hybrid model with local supervised in-person practice showed superior academic performance compared to conventional instruction (HUAI et al., 2024). Discussion and Conclusion: DL represents a strategic opportunity to democratize NDTR training, with significant socioeconomic impact. Its implementation requires a robust theoretical framework — Transactional Distance Theory and the Community of Inquiry Framework —, curricular structure aligned with ACEND, public policies for digital equity, and primary research specifically focused on the NDTR population. The scarcity of primary studies focused on dietetic technicians constitutes the main limitation of the current synthesis and points to an urgent and necessary research agenda.