What does a clinical dietician do?
Clinical dietician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real clinical dietician resumes:
- Manage the anemia status of patients by reviewing necessary lab data and initiating or adjusting medication doses.
- Facilitate interactive education program for mental health youth patients.
- Write articles for local and national newspapers and newsletters and advise hospital catering departments about the specific dietary requirements of patients.
- Develop hospital protocol for pediatric TPN ordering guidelines.
- Calculate tube feeding recommendations as well as TPN administration recommendations.
- Develop nutrition assessments and provide individual nutrition interventions for post-surgical/medical patients entering rehabilitation.
Clinical dietician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 43% of Clinical Dieticians are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and Medical Nutrition Therapy. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Compassion, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Clinical Dieticians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 43%
Facilitated interactive education program for mental health youth patients.
- Patient Care, 15%
Communicate nutrition assessment findings and interventions via medical record documentation, patient care rounds and/or verbal communication with health care staff.
- Medical Nutrition Therapy, 10%
Provided the optimal nutritional care and medical nutrition therapy to inpatients/outpatients which Compiles with the Joint Commission JCIA standards.
- Nutrition Education, 8%
Collaborated with patient discharge planning team to augment timeliness and individualization of patient nutrition education.
- Rehabilitation, 5%
Collaborated with interdisciplinary team to coordinate care plan thereby facilitating rehabilitation for residents.
- Nutritional Risk, 4%
Interview and certify WIC Program applicants to determine eligibility based on defined nutritional risk criteria increasing monthly participant goal.
Most clinical dieticians use their skills in "patients," "patient care," and "medical nutrition therapy" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential clinical dietician responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a clinical dietician to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what clinical dieticians do because "dietitians and nutritionists must keep up with food and nutrition research." Additionally, a clinical dietician resume shows how clinical dieticians use analytical skills: "developed care plans performed nutrition assessments analyzed medical data"
Compassion. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling clinical dietician duties is compassion. The role rewards competence in this skill because "dietitians and nutritionists must be caring and empathetic when helping clients address health and dietary issues and any related emotions." According to a clinical dietician resume, here's how clinical dieticians can utilize compassion in their job responsibilities: "exhibited patience and compassion to counsel clients from diverse backgrounds with a wide variety of nutritional issues. "
Listening skills. This is an important skill for clinical dieticians to perform their duties. For an example of how clinical dietician responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "dietitians and nutritionists must listen carefully to understand clients’ goals and concerns." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a clinical dietician: "displayed strong listening, verbal communication and interpersonal skills to help patients improve their physical health and mental well-being. ".
Organizational skills. clinical dietician responsibilities often require "organizational skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "dietitians and nutritionists must prepare and maintain many types of records for multiple clients." This resume example shows what clinical dieticians do with organizational skills on a typical day: "attended professional conferences and participated in organizational/department committees which are committed to improving client/patient care and standards of practice. "
Problem-solving skills. Another common skill required for clinical dietician responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." This skill comes up in the duties of clinical dieticians all the time, as "dietitians and nutritionists must evaluate the health status of clients and determine appropriate food choices to improve overall health or manage disease." An excerpt from a real clinical dietician resume shows how this skill is central to what a clinical dietician does: "increased quality of clinical nutrition inpatient care through effective leadership and problem resolution skills. "
Speaking skills. Lastly, "speaking skills" is an important element of what a clinical dietician does. Clinical dietician responsibilities require this skill because "dietitians and nutritionists must explain complicated topics in a way that people can understand." This resume example highlights how clinical dietician duties rely on this skill: "conducted quality assurance audits and presented findings monthly at the qa meeting. "
The three companies that hire the most clinical dieticians are:
- CarolinaEast12 clinical dieticians jobs
- Prime Healthcare12 clinical dieticians jobs
- Mission Regional Medical Center9 clinical dieticians jobs
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Compare different clinical dieticians
Clinical dietician vs. Food adviser
Nutrition interns are individuals who are on the job training for the tasks performed by licensed nutritionists or dieticians. The interns provide a nutrition care process that includes prescription of parenteral and enteral recommendations and analysis of laboratory values. They prepare a case study presentation that applies evidence-based guidelines and nutrition care process research. It is also part of their responsibilities to provide nutrition services, meal plans, and lesson plans.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, clinical dietician responsibilities require skills like "patients," "patient care," "medical nutrition therapy," and "nutrition education." Meanwhile a typical food adviser has skills in areas such as "facility operations," "logistics," "food service," and "food safety." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that food advisers earn slightly differ from clinical dieticians. In particular, food advisers are 8.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a clinical dietician. Additionally, they're 1.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical dietician vs. Food and nutrition teacher
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, clinical dietician responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patient care," "medical nutrition therapy," "nutrition education," and "rehabilitation." Meanwhile, a food and nutrition teacher has duties that require skills in areas such as "dishes," "cash handling," "food handling," and "tray line." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, food and nutrition teachers achieve lower levels of education than clinical dieticians. They're 13.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical dietician vs. Nutrition internship
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a clinical dietician is likely to be skilled in "patient care," "nutrition education," "rehabilitation," and "nutritional risk," while a typical nutrition internship is skilled in "nutrition education programs," "nutrition education materials," "rd," and "diabetes."
When it comes to education, nutrition interns tend to earn lower degree levels compared to clinical dieticians. In fact, they're 7.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Clinical dietician vs. Nutrition counselor
Types of clinical dietician
Updated January 8, 2025
