What does a dietetic technician do?
A Dietetic Technician assists dietitians in the provision of food service and nutritional programs. They develop nutritional plans to promote health, treat illnesses, prevent disease, and analyze patient data to determine patient needs and treatment goals.
Dietetic technician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real dietetic technician resumes:
- Facilitate nutrition education training to patients and families on appropriate meal selections within dietary restrictions to accomplish patient goals.
- Maintain current information in medical records and WIC HSIS software.
- Provide diet or condition specific diet educations and addressed food allergies.
- Maintain special food inventory for kitchen to accommodate for vary diets and any allergies.
- Complete initial, annual, quarterly and significant change nutritional assessments, attend multidisciplinary care plan conferences and complete MDS's.
- Provide MDS documentation and participate in annual state surveys.
- Provide nutrition therapeutic care, counseling and education for patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and gastrointestinal disease
- Prepare infant formulas following hospital and HACCP guidelines.
- Attend patient care plan meetings and provide nutrition recommendations and counseling using the ADIME process.
- Conduct research and create PowerPoint presentations for wellness programs.
Dietetic technician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 30% of Dietetic Technicians are proficient in Patients, Nutritional Risk, and Tray Line.
We break down the percentage of Dietetic Technicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 30%
Provided nutrition therapeutic care, counseling and education for patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and gastrointestinal disease
- Nutritional Risk, 7%
Provided dietary consultation and screened newly admitted patients/residents to identify those at nutritional risk.
- Tray Line, 6%
Monitored tray line for dietary accuracy and quality.
- Food Preferences, 6%
Performed patient interviews to determine food preferences.
- Patient Care, 6%
Participated in interdisciplinary inpatient consultations to ensure optimal patient care was attained in a hospital of over 600 beds.
- Diet Orders, 6%
Recommend oral nutrition supplements and therapeutic diet orders.
Most dietetic technicians use their skills in "patients," "nutritional risk," and "tray line" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential dietetic technician responsibilities here:
The three companies that hire the most dietetic technicians are:
- Tenet Healthcare12 dietetic technicians jobs
- Northwell Health7 dietetic technicians jobs
- Sodexo Management, Inc.6 dietetic technicians jobs
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Compare different dietetic technicians
Dietetic technician vs. Dietary aide
A dietary aide is responsible for assisting food preparations and ensuring that the meals adhere to an individual's specific diet plans. Dietary aides must strictly follow sanitation standards and hygiene procedures to guarantee the safety and quality of the service. They also help in facilitating kitchen maintenance, keeping every area clean and organized. Dietary aides must also have comprehensive knowledge of nutritional guidelines to provide information and share suggestions as necessary to improve the service and preparations.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, dietetic technician responsibilities require skills like "nutritional risk," "patient care," "nutrition education," and "patient education." Meanwhile a typical dietary aide has skills in areas such as "meal trays," "food service," "food carts," and "fine dining." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that dietary aides earn slightly differ from dietetic technicians. In particular, dietary aides are 5.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a dietetic technician. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Dietetic technician vs. Nutrition assistant
A Nutrition Assistant makes sure that patients in a healthcare unit are fed according to their dietary needs. They assist in kitchen prep and cooking food.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that dietetic technician responsibilities requires skills like "patient education," "medical nutrition therapy," "diet history," and "diet education." But a nutrition assistant might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "kitchen equipment," "food service," "compassion," and "food intake."
In general, nutrition assistants achieve similar levels of education than dietetic technicians. They're 3.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Dietetic technician vs. Dietitian assistant
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a dietetic technician is likely to be skilled in "food handling," "patient education," "rehabilitation," and "medical nutrition therapy," while a typical dietitian assistant is skilled in "food service," "hipaa," "meal service," and "diabetes."
Most dietitian assistants achieve a similar degree level compared to dietetic technicians. For example, they're 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Dietetic technician vs. Diet assistant
Even though a few skill sets overlap between dietetic technicians and diet assistants, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a dietetic technician might have more use for skills like "patient care," "diet orders," "patient education," and "rehabilitation." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of diet assistants require skills like "phone calls," "clinical nutrition," "room service," and "dietary restrictions. "
In general, diet assistants hold similar degree levels compared to dietetic technicians. Diet assistants are 4.8% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of dietetic technician
Updated January 8, 2025
