Dietitians and Nutritionist Plan and conduct food service or nutritional programs to assist in the promotion of health and control of disease. May supervise activities of a department providing quantity food services, counsel individuals, or conduct nutritional research.
Dietitians and Nutritionist is Also Know as
In different settings, Dietitians and Nutritionist is titled as
- Clinical Dietician
- Clinical Dietitian
- Clinical Nutritionist
- Dietitian
- Nutritionist
- Oncology Dietitian
- Outpatient Dietitian
- Registered Dietician
- Registered Dietitian
- Renal Dietitian
Education and Training of Dietitians and Nutritionist
Dietitians and Nutritionist is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Dietitians and Nutritionist
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Education Required for Dietitians and Nutritionist
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Degrees Related to Dietitians and Nutritionist
- Bachelor in Foods, Nutrition, and Wellness Studies, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Foods, Nutrition, and Wellness Studies, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Foods, Nutrition, and Wellness Studies, General
- Bachelor in Human Nutrition
- Associate Degree Courses in Human Nutrition
- Masters Degree Courses in Human Nutrition
- Bachelor in Foodservice Systems Administration/Management
- Associate Degree Courses in Foodservice Systems Administration/Management
- Masters Degree Courses in Foodservice Systems Administration/Management
- Bachelor in Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services, Other
- Associate Degree Courses in Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services, Other
- Masters Degree Courses in Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services, Other
- Bachelor in Nutrition Sciences
- Associate Degree Courses in Nutrition Sciences
- Masters Degree Courses in Nutrition Sciences
- Bachelor in Dietetics/Dietitian
- Associate Degree Courses in Dietetics/Dietitian
- Masters Degree Courses in Dietetics/Dietitian
Training Required for Dietitians and Nutritionist
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Dietitians and Nutritionist in different industries are
- Dietetic Technicians
- Clinical Nurse Specialists
- Family Medicine Physicians
- Nurse Practitioners
- Pediatricians, General
- Genetic Counselors
- Naturopathic Physicians
- Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
- Preventive Medicine Physicians
- General Internal Medicine Physicians
- Health Education Specialists
- Psychiatrists
- Registered Nurses
- Occupational Therapists
- Nurse Midwives
- Exercise Physiologists
- Neurologists
- Pharmacists
- Allergists and Immunologists
- Emergency Medicine Physicians
What Do Dietitians and Nutritionist do?
- Assess nutritional needs, diet restrictions, and current health plans to develop and implement dietary-care plans and provide nutritional counseling.
- Consult with physicians and health care personnel to determine nutritional needs and diet restrictions of patient or client.
- Advise patients and their families on nutritional principles, dietary plans, diet modifications, and food selection and preparation.
- Counsel individuals and groups on basic rules of good nutrition, healthy eating habits, and nutrition monitoring to improve their quality of life.
- Monitor food service operations to ensure conformance to nutritional, safety, sanitation and quality standards.
- Coordinate recipe development and standardization and develop new menus for independent food service operations.
- Develop policies for food service or nutritional programs to assist in health promotion and disease control.
- Inspect meals served for conformance to prescribed diets and standards of palatability and appearance.
- Develop curriculum and prepare manuals, visual aids, course outlines, and other materials used in teaching.
- Prepare and administer budgets for food, equipment, and supplies.
- Purchase food in accordance with health and safety codes.
- Select, train, and supervise workers who plan, prepare, and serve meals.
- Manage quantity food service departments or clinical and community nutrition services.
- Coordinate diet counseling services.
- Advise food service managers and organizations on sanitation, safety procedures, menu development, budgeting, and planning to assist with establishment, operation, and evaluation of food service facilities and nutrition programs.
- Organize, develop, analyze, test, and prepare special meals, such as low-fat, low-cholesterol, or chemical-free meals.
- Plan, conduct, and evaluate dietary, nutritional, and epidemiological research.
- Plan and conduct training programs in dietetics, nutrition, and institutional management and administration for medical students, health-care personnel, and the general public.
- Make recommendations regarding public policy, such as nutrition labeling, food fortification, or nutrition standards for school programs.
- Write research reports and other publications to document and communicate research findings.
- Plan and prepare grant proposals to request program funding.
- Test new food products and equipment.
- Confer with design, building, and equipment personnel to plan for construction and remodeling of food service units.
- Evaluate laboratory tests in preparing nutrition recommendations.
- Incorporate patient cultural, ethnic, or religious preferences and needs in the development of nutrition plans.
- Record and evaluate patient and family health and food history, including symptoms, environmental toxic exposure, allergies, medication factors, and preventive health-care measures.
- Develop recipes and menus to address special nutrition needs, such as low glycemic, low histamine, or gluten- or allergen-free.
- Plan, conduct, and evaluate nutrigenomic or nutrigenetic research.
Qualities of Good Dietitians and Nutritionist
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Tools Used by Dietitians and Nutritionist
- Automated blood pressure cuffs
- Bioelectric impedance machines
- Desktop computers
- Glucometers
- Hydrostatic weighing machines
- Ketone meters
- Laptop computers
- Manual blood pressure cuffs
- Metabolic carts
- Personal computers
- Personal digital assistants PDA
- Skinfold calipers
- Upright scales
- Wearable fitness monitors
Technology Skills required for Dietitians and Nutritionist
- Allergenic diet software
- Aurora FoodPro
- Axxya Systems Nutritionist Pro
- BioEx Systems Nutrition Maker Plus
- Compu-Cal Nutrition Assistant
- Cronometer
- CyberSoft NutriBase
- Database software
- DietMaster Systems DietMaster
- ESHA Research The Food Processor
- Google Drive
- Graphics software
- Ketogenic planning software
- Lifestyles Technologies DietMaster Pro
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- MNT Northwest MNT Assistant
- Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App
- Mosby's Nutritrac
- MyFitnessPal
- Nutrient analysis software
- PICS DietMate Professional
- ReadyTalk
- Skype
- Spreadsheet software
- Statistical software
- SureQuest Systems Square 1
- The Nutrition Company FoodWorks
- ValuSoft MasterCook
- Web browser software
- Word processing software