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Dietitian vs outpatient dietitian

The differences between dietitians and outpatient dietitians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a dietitian and an outpatient dietitian. Additionally, an outpatient dietitian has an average salary of $62,717, which is higher than the $58,480 average annual salary of a dietitian.

The top three skills for a dietitian include patients, medical nutrition therapy and rehabilitation. The most important skills for an outpatient dietitian are patients, medical nutrition therapy, and patient care.

Dietitian vs outpatient dietitian overview

DietitianOutpatient Dietitian
Yearly salary$58,480$62,717
Hourly rate$28.12$30.15
Growth rate7%7%
Number of jobs6,16410,972
Job satisfaction2.5-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age4242
Years of experience22

What does a dietitian do?

A dietitian's role is to assist clients in their journey to achieve their health goals. Typically, a dietitian's responsibilities revolve around interviewing and assessing a client's diet needs and goals, learning their preferences and restrictions such as allergies, and crafting a personalized nutrition plan. Moreover, it is essential for a dietitian to monitor a client's progress and maintain information on all accounts. There are also instances where one may promote healthy eating habits to the public, all while keeping abreast of the latest nutrition studies.

What does an outpatient dietitian do?

An Outpatient Dietitian is responsible for providing medical nutrition therapy, such as nutrition assessment, nutrition support, patient intervention, and education. They also identify the educational needs of others, develop formal educational training programs or classes, and teach or instruct others.

Dietitian vs outpatient dietitian salary

Dietitians and outpatient dietitians have different pay scales, as shown below.

DietitianOutpatient Dietitian
Average salary$58,480$62,717
Salary rangeBetween $43,000 And $78,000Between $38,000 And $102,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CA-
Highest paying stateCalifornia-
Best paying companyUniversity of California-
Best paying industryHealth Care-

Differences between dietitian and outpatient dietitian education

There are a few differences between a dietitian and an outpatient dietitian in terms of educational background:

DietitianOutpatient Dietitian
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common majorDieteticsDietetics
Most common collegeUniversity of Maryland - College ParkUniversity of Maryland - College Park

Dietitian vs outpatient dietitian demographics

Here are the differences between dietitians' and outpatient dietitians' demographics:

DietitianOutpatient Dietitian
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 11.7% Female, 88.3%Male, 7.5% Female, 92.5%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 10.9% Asian, 9.8% White, 66.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.1% Asian, 8.5% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between dietitian and outpatient dietitian duties and responsibilities

Dietitian example responsibilities.

  • Manage the anemia status of patients by reviewing necessary lab data and initiating or adjusting medication doses.
  • Prioritize initial/quarterly/consult assessments, interventions and progress monitoring for long-term care, rehabilitation and post acute patients.
  • Design and provide individualize nutrition counseling to promote healthy behavior modifications for a variety of home health care patients.
  • Counsele post-op patients to ensure dietary compliance, nutritional adequacy and formulation of weight management goals throughout their post-operative course.
  • Perform indirect calorimetry to measure resting metabolic rates (RMR).
  • Work as part of research team on a large-scale NIH clinical trial.
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Outpatient dietitian example responsibilities.

  • Manage the anemia status of patients by reviewing necessary lab data and initiating or adjusting medication doses.
  • Perform nutritional education, complete comprehensive assessments, calculate patient needs for nutrition support and determine patients at risk for malnutrition.
  • Create educational lesson discussing hypertension prevention, risk factors, MNT.
  • Monitor patients' nutrition status, laboratory values, diet tolerance, and motivate them to adhere to dietary/medications recommendations.
  • Provide clinical nutrition coverage as needed for medical-surgical, telemetry, intensive care unit, behavioral health and rehabilitative floors.

Dietitian vs outpatient dietitian skills

Common dietitian skills
  • Patients, 39%
  • Medical Nutrition Therapy, 9%
  • Rehabilitation, 6%
  • Patient Education, 6%
  • Nutrition Services, 5%
  • Lab Results, 4%
Common outpatient dietitian skills
  • Patients, 30%
  • Medical Nutrition Therapy, 11%
  • Patient Care, 6%
  • Nutrition Services, 5%
  • Home Health, 4%
  • Healthcare Professionals, 4%

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