Dietitian

Job Description

Dietitians are essential in designing nutrition programs to protect a patient's health, alleviate the symptoms of some types of diseases, and to prevent allergic reactions. Dietitians have a wide host of responsibilities and tasks that come with their job, as they are largely responsible for becoming experts in the use of food and nutrition in a person's daily life and their pathway to recovery from sickness or an unhealthy lifestyle. Food plays a massive role in our bodies, and we can often forget just how much of a role it plays in our health and our treatment plan.

Dietitians are the experts in the healthcare industry when it comes to understanding the importance of nutrition as the foundation of good health, from conception to old age. Even more important, is understanding how our dietary needs and nutritional needs change throughout our lives. Our bodies behave very differently from when we're children to seniors, and Dietitians are responsible for understanding those changes and the steps we can take to set ourselves up for a healthy lifestyle moving forward.

A Dietitian is responsible for assisting patients with all the tools they need to abide by healthy eating practices, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and manage lifetime diseases or illnesses that they might have through proper nutrition.

The next part of a Dietitian's job description is to educate and advise patients about what they should be eating and the importance of eating properly. Dietitians are responsible for making sure that their patients understand why eating healthy is important. Often we've been told throughout time and grade school that we need to eat well, and we believe that we're making educated decisions with our daily meals. But we don't quite realize what we're eating until we track it and then present it to a Dietitian.

Dietitians can work with a variety of patients in several different ways. Their environment and setting will often determine what kind of work they do and the responsibilities they have. Dietitians can work with a variety of patients in a clinical setting or tailor their specialization to something more narrow in scope like the following. Clinical Dietitians may specialize in one or more of the following areas:

• Management of overweight patients

• Nutritional needs of critically ill patients

• Dietary demands of patients with kidney disease and diabetes

• Management of food service departments in areas such as nursing care facilities, small hospitals or correctional facilities

Depending on specialty and their workplace, a Dietitian can have a wide array of duties that they are responsible for on a regular basis as well. Some of the most common roles that a Dietitian can have often depends on the industry or segment they're working in. Some of the most common Dietitian industry roles they can occupy include:

• Clinical Dietitians

The first specialization role that Dietitians can have in their career is to be a Clinical Dietitian. Clinical Dietitians are Dietitians who specialize in providing nutrition and dietary advice to patients who are in hospitals, healthcare facilities, or nursing facilities. A Clinical Dietitian's main job description is to evaluate a patient's nutritional needs, and then develop guidelines that can be easily followed and align well with their recommended treatment plans. Clinical Dietitians will often find themselves interacting with other healthcare professionals and Physicians as they seek to assist patients who might be struggling with getting healthy, living a healthy lifestyle, dealing with a long-term illness or disease, or other conditions.

• Research Dietitian

The next role that Dietitians can often find themselves in is being a Research Dietitian. Research Dietitians are focused on conducting additional nutritional and dietary science that can illuminate some questions that the industry might have. For example, Research Dietitians might try to find a certain superfood or super meal plan that can help a patient meet all of their nutritional needs and help them get on the pathway to recovery faster.

Research Dietitians can work in a variety of settings like a hospital, healthcare facility, community college, university, or the private sector. Research Dietitians are tasked with trying to find some key answers and test leading theories as it relates to nutritional and dietary science.

• Sports Dietitian

Athletes need to perform at their peak level on a consistent basis, and that's where Sports Dietitians and proper sports nutrition come into play. Sports Dietitians are responsible for making sure that the athletes they're in charge of are getting all they need to ensure they're performing at the top of their athletic ability. This consists of making sure that they're following the ideal diet plans and getting the necessary nutritional intake they need.

In addition, Sports Dietitians will closely monitor athletes to make sure they're following the training regimen, their diet is setting them up for success, their nutritional progress is being charted properly, and they're getting all the necessary macro and micronutrients they need. Sports Dietitians will work with a variety of athletes from a variety of different sports, and they need to be knowledgeable about which dietary plan and nutritional guidance is appropriate for them in their sport.

• Community Dietitian

Community Dietitians are focused on providing dietary plans and nutritional guidelines to a larger group of people within certain communities. Sometimes this is a local community or it might be a more formal community like public health clinics. Community Dietitians are responsible for educating and assisting individuals in certain population segments who might be suffering in their nutritional pattern.

• Pharmaceutical Dietitian

Pharmaceutical Dietitians are responsible for evaluating what kind of effects a new prescription or pharmaceutical drug will have on individual patients. For instance, different drugs might break down at different speeds within a patient, and a Pharmaceutical company could be looking to delay the breakdown or prolong it. Pharmaceutical Dietitians are brought in to provide feedback and guidance on what additional enzymes, micronutrients, or macronutrients they can add to the pharmaceutical drug to meet the goals that the organization is looking for.

In addition, pharmaceutical companies are taking a larger role in assisting patients with their nutrition needs and lifestyle changes through things like diet pills or other supposed methods that can assist patients with appetite cravings.

• Food Industry Dietitian

Dietitians will also work in the food industry to provide guidance and feedback for certain food groups, product offerings, meal offerings, and more. As the federal government increasingly tries to improve their nation's overall wellness through regulation and dietary restrictions within the food industry, Food Industry Dietitians play an important role in assisting companies to identify foods they can produce that still taste the same, without facing legal ramifications or setting up consumers for health scares because of their products.

Food Industry Dietitians are also responsible for assisting with the preparation of marketing materials, advertising materials, product descriptions, and in-depth reviews of product contents, recipes, and supplements.

• Administrative Dietitians

Administrative Dietitians are those Dietitians who work in leadership or management positions. Administrative Dietitians are responsible for overseeing a handful of Dietitians and Nutritionists underneath them. Administrative Dietitians focus on providing a top-down perspective on healthcare facilities and their meal production, cafeteria meal planning, nutritional and meal plan budget guidelines, equipment and supplies inventory, and more. In addition, Administrative Dietitians are responsible for making sure that their staff enforce and follow sanitary and safety regulations.

Dietitians can work in a variety of roles and their responsibilities might differ slightly in each, but there are some common responsibilities that you can expect to perform as a Dietitian throughout your career. We've outlined the main responsibilities that a Dietitian has below.

.

Responsibilities

Dietitians focus their attention on the impact that food has on our health. They most commonly provide medical nutrition therapy for patients in hospitals and nursing care facilities.

As a member of the health care team, a Dietitian is responsible for assessing the nutritional needs of patients, developing and implementing nutritional programs, and evaluating and reporting on the results of these interventions. Dietitians work in consultation with doctors and other health care professionals to coordinate dietary needs and medical requirements for each patient.

The first key responsibility that a Dietitian has is to assess a patient's health needs. The best way for a patient to start getting on the pathway to a healthy lifestyle is through proper nutrition. Dietitians are responsible for evaluating a patient's nutritional needs and how it is contributing to their overall well-being by conducting thorough nutritional assessments that are designed to get a baseline for other healthcare professionals to use.

Plenty of healthcare problems and ailments can be solved by cleaning up a patient's diet. We often don't realize how detrimental our nutrition is, but it's important to remember that our diet is what fuels our body. You wouldn't put bad gas in your car, and you shouldn't do the same thing for your body. A Dietitian's main responsibility is to conduct this thorough assessment and evaluate what kind of nutrition a patient has and evaluate whether or not that is the culprit behind what they're suffering from.

The next job responsibility that Dietitians have is to create customized meal plans for their patients. Sometimes a customized meal plan is what is necessary to help a patient get the nutrition they need to get on the pathway to a healthy lifestyle. Creating a customized meal plan allows for patients to have a list of foods they can eat and foods they should stay away from. This regimented lifestyle is something that can help guide them on the path to learning which foods are healthy and which foods are unhealthy.

Sometimes we think certain foods are healthy and we make them a staple of our diet, only to realize that they're compounding the issues we already have. Getting on a regimented meal plan that has been written up from a Dietitian is one of the best things that an unhealthy patient can do, because they know that they're going to get all the macro and micronutrients they need to get back to living a healthy lifestyle. Some of the other benefits associated with meal plans for patients include learning portion control, avoidance of wasting food, and saving both money and time.

Once a Dietitian has crafted a meal plan for a patient, the next responsibility they have is to track a patient's progress with following that meal plan. Meal plans aren't any good if the patient elects not to follow them. Dietitians will check in with their patients or do routine follow-ups to evaluate how well they're following their meal plan, make sure they're keeping a recorded log of what they're eating and when, and then ask them what they think about the meal plan. This portion of the follow-up is a dialogue back and forth to evaluate if they'd like to see some changes to the meal plan, if they'd prefer one food over another, etc.

When a patient doesn't mention anything about their meal plan or attempts to skirt the issue, then it tends to cause some alarms for Dietitians because it might mean they're not following it. Following a recommended diet plan and meal plan is often a collaborative process. Dietitians aren't going to always get it right the first time because patient preferences have to be taken into consideration, and that develops over time as the dialogue continues. A patient who is working with the Dietitian and collaborating with them will often stick to their meal plan more closely.

The next responsibility that Dietitians have is to assist with the education and promotion of healthy eating practices. One of the main responsibilities of helping patients achieve a healthier lifestyle is by making sure that they understand the importance of following the recommended meal plan and understand why good nutrition is important. Dietitians can spend dozens of hours with a patient but if the patient doesn't understand that what they're recommending or what the importance is, then they won't be obligated to follow their recommendations, that's why this responsibility is so important for each Dietitian.

Part of this responsibility also involves helping patients understand the health issues that might arise from poor nutrition. Sometimes a patient will ignore the advice of their caregivers but could be prompted to do otherwise if they understood the effects of ignoring sound advice and recommendations.

The next responsibility that Dietitians have in their role is to stay up to date with the latest nutritional and dietary science. In the healthcare industry, nearly every professional needs to ensure that they're using the most up-to-date methodology, providing the most up-to-date knowledge and recommendations to their patients. Dietitians are responsible for continuing their education and staying up to date by completing continuing education credits and courses. Dietitians are responsible for participating in a variety of continuing education activities and completing requirements.

The next responsibility that Dietitians have is to counsel and answer any questions that the patient or the patient's family member might have. Sometimes this involves educating patients about confusing topics as we mentioned above, and other times it'll involve educating a patient's family members about the importance of teamwork when it comes to getting their family members on a proper meal plan.

It's always easier to switch up a routine when you have family and friends who can help you make more informed decisions and promote smart meal choices. Questions are bound to come up and some of the most common questions that Dietitians should expect to answer include ones like, "Is this really necessary?", "What happens if they don't change their diet?", and "How often do we have to stick to this meal plan?".

The next thing that a Dietitian is responsible for is keeping accurate patient records and patient data. This is an important piece of a Dietitian's day because tracking a patient's progress because they're tasked with changing their diet and their nutritional habits start with what they're tracking themselves. If a patient isn't tracking their eating habits and taking notes, it can be quite difficult to adjust the meal plan or nutritional guidelines as you go along.

For those patients that are following their recommended guidelines and are keeping terrific notes, a Dietitian will then use that data to create statistical reports and measurements to track their progress. These statistical reports are then used by Dietitians to showcase their growth from the starting point and evaluate their progress over time. In addition, Dietitians might take these statistical reports to their supervisors and showcase how well certain healthy eating and nutritional meal plans are working out.

Some of the individual responsibilities will also vary greatly depending on the role they're in like we've mentioned previously. We've outlined some of the key responsibilities that certain roles will have as well below.

Community Registered Dietitians (RD) develop nutrition programs that target particular groups of people to promote health and prevent disease. RDs who work as Community Dietitians may be employed in settings such as fitness centers, public health clinics, home health agencies or corporate wellness programs.

When working in home health agencies or corporate wellness programs, Dietitians provide instruction on grocery shopping and food preparation. Many Dietitians focus on the education of the elderly or individuals with special needs and children.

Increased public awareness of the importance of nutrition has led to employment opportunities in areas such as food manufacturing, marketing, and advertising.

Dietitians working in these areas are generally responsible for analyzing foods, preparing literature for public distribution, or reporting on issues such as the nutritional value of recipes, the amount of dietary fiber a food contains, or the efficacy of vitamin supplements.

Dietitians in management roles oversee large-scale meal planning and the preparation of meals in health care facilities, in company cafeterias, in prisons, and in schools. These Dietitians also hire, train and supervise other Dietitians and food service employees.

They are responsible for budgeting for and purchasing food, dietary equipment and necessary supplies. They must enforce sanitary and safety regulations, and prepare expected records and reports. Some Dietitians work under contract as consultants with health care facilities or in their own private practice.

These Dietitians perform nutritional assessments for their clients and give them advice about diet-related concerns, such as weight loss or cholesterol reduction.

Other Dietitians find employment in wellness programs, supermarkets, sports teams and other businesses related to nutrition.

They often consult with food service managers to provide expertise in safety procedures, sanitation, budgeting, menu development, and planning.

.

Common Activities On The Job

For those students, job seekers, and healthcare professionals who might be considering a career as a Dietitian, a glimpse into what the daily routine of a Dietitian looks like might help them evaluate whether or not it's a career they'd like to pursue. We've outlined some of the most common activities on the job for Dietitians with a little information about each activity.

• Gather Information

The most common activity that Dietitians will have throughout their daily routine is to gather information. Dietitians will find that most of their daily routine consists of gathering as much information as they can to make informed healthcare decisions. Dietitians will gather information to make informed nutritional recommendations, craft meal plans, and recommend treatment plans.

• Analyze Data

The next thing that Dietitians will find themselves doing quite frequently as part of their routine is analyzing data. Oftentimes Dietitians will be reviewing the data they've gathered from patient interviews, blood work, and dietary/nutritional logs. Analyzing the data will largely revolve around identifying what kind of problems might be caused by the patient's nutritional routine and how it might correlate with any health concerns they already have or are developing.

• Create Meal Plans

The next common task that Dietitians have to do each day is to create meal plans for their patients. One of the best things that Dietitians do when they begin creating their meal plans for patients is to also provide a list of ways that that can help patients follow the meal plan more closely like places to eat, foods to consider, and ways to prep food throughout the week.

• Track Patient Progress

The next thing that Dietitians will do each day is to track a patient's progress. Depending on the hospital, healthcare facility, or company the Dietitian is working for, there are a variety of ways that a patient's progress can be tracked. Plenty of organizations assign accounts that their patients can log into and use an online system to track their eating habits and identify their nutritional intake with a few clicks. Then the Dietitian can easily log in and monitor their patients with ease. Other systems require that a patient submits regular written logs or sheets that they can then track over time, but this system requires more legwork and isn't as comprehensive.

• Create Statistical Reports

Once a Dietitian has the information they need from their patient, they can then focus on creating statistical reports that showcase all the things they need to measure and track with ease. Sometimes data can be overwhelming when it's nothing but numbers, but statistical reports with charts and graphs make it easier to understand for both patients and other healthcare professionals who need the information to recommend future treatment plans or evaluate where a patient stands.

• Communicate With Others

The next common activity that Dietitians can expect in their daily routine is to communicate with others. Communication is a critical component of any healthcare career, but it's especially important in a role as a Dietitian as they have to interact and discuss important topics with their patients in addition to coordinating care activities with other healthcare team members.

.

Skills

We've outlined some of the key skills that a Dietitian should focus on developing or have in order to succeed in their role and throughout their healthcare career.

 

Communication	Must effectively communicate with your co-workers to ensure the best care and the proper procedures. Must be able to communicate in high-stress environments.
Active Listening	Offering your full attention to an individual person or group in order to fully understand problems and their nature.
Critical Thinking	Must use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Judgment and Decision Making	Needs to be able to act autonomously and make difficult decisions that would benefit the patient or make corrections. Must consider all benefits and repercussions of potential actions and choose the appropriate one.
Complex Problem Solving	Must be able to identify complex problems and develop and evaluate corrective options and implement solutions.
Stress Management	Must be able to endure intense situations and handle pressure that comes with extreme situations you may encounter.
Trustworthiness	Must be trustworthy because you have people's lives in your hands and what you do could help or hurt them. They are entrusted with a great responsibility and must live up to it.
Perceptiveness	Gauging how people react and read their body language to decipher their feelings and predict their actions. They must be able to determine if people could be a risk to themselves or others and to distinguish truths from lies.

.

Working Conditions

Dietitians work to oversee food planning and preparation in a variety of settings. They may work in schools, prisons, health care facilities and company cafeterias to manage nutrition programs.

Dietitians can find employment opportunities in public health agencies where they are instrumental in influencing policies related to health and nutrition.

They also do similar work in universities, where they educate students about nutrition and health. Most dietitians work a standard 40-hour week and are usually based out of an office with time spent in institutional kitchens and in meetings.

If you're interested in learning what it takes to become a Dietitian, take the time to review our extensive career path guide on How To Become a Dietitian.

 

.

.

Salary Outlook