What does a nutrition specialist do?
Nutrition specialists are skilled professionals who possess detailed knowledge of foods that are necessary for human health and growth. These specialists are required to provide comprehensive nutrition services to patients who are admitted to community health centers and specialty clinics for medical nutrition therapy. They must create diets and meal plans for patients based on their medical and dietary needs. Nutrition specialists must also organize community outreach efforts and other funded nutrition programs to encourage participation from professionals and lay groups.
Nutrition specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real nutrition specialist resumes:
- Provide districts with technical assistance for a state-wide USDA approve nutrient analysis and student eligibility software program.
- Oversee the food bid process and audit of milk and food receipts in accordance with USDA guidelines.
- Educate client classes on diabetes, bariatrics, hypertension, malnutrition, and other nutrition relate topics.
- Provide options for campers with food allergies, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and lactose free diets.
- Develop variety of menu items catering to patrons with food allergies and diet restrictions such as gluten-free and vegan items.
- Provide diabetes education to hospital inpatients and outpatients and conduct diabetes group classes.
- Contribute to diabetes awareness education in collaboration with physicians and other medical staff members.
- Perform nutrition assessment screenings of individual patients for nutritional requirements and restrictions; provides recommendations on food item selection.
- Assist in supervision of medical nutrition care operation; perform clinical dietetic functions in the dietary management and treatment of patients
- Conduct research using online federal regulations, review Medicare and Medicaid policy and guidelines to complete an accurate and well-support decision.
- Write quarterly project newsletters, create tools need to properly assess for obesity causing behaviors and develop educationmaterials as needed.
Nutrition specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 28% of Nutrition Specialists are proficient in Patients, PET, and Nutritional Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Compassion, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Nutrition Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 28%
Performed nutrition assessment screenings of individual patients for nutritional requirements and restrictions; provides recommendations on food item selection.
- PET, 11%
Helped customers identify their pet's particular needs and assisted with nutritional selections.
- Nutritional Care, 7%
Systematized documentation of the Nutrition Care Process by Registered Dietitians for OWL multidisciplinary care.
- Patient Care, 6%
Demonstrated effectiveness as a resourceful and dependable partner for referrals and ongoing patient care.
- Nutrition Education, 4%
Established an outpatient nutrition clinic for veterans; assessed and provided nutrition education, counseling and/or diet instructions.
- Diabetes, 4%
Contributed to diabetes awareness education in collaboration with physicians and other medical staff members.
Most nutrition specialists use their skills in "patients," "pet," and "nutritional care" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential nutrition specialist responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a nutrition specialist to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "dietitians and nutritionists must keep up with food and nutrition research." Nutrition specialists often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "maintain data and corresponding documents for all children with food allergies or special dietary concerns. "
Compassion. Another essential skill to perform nutrition specialist duties is compassion. Nutrition specialists responsibilities require that "dietitians and nutritionists must be caring and empathetic when helping clients address health and dietary issues and any related emotions." Nutrition specialists also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "handled customer complaints, without manager intervention, 98% of time and with exceptional compassion. "
Organizational skills. This is an important skill for nutrition specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how nutrition specialist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "dietitians and nutritionists must prepare and maintain many types of records for multiple clients." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a nutrition specialist: "assisted hr organizational development with miscellaneous projects, mailings, and employee events. ".
Listening skills. nutrition specialist responsibilities often require "listening skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "dietitians and nutritionists must listen carefully to understand clients’ goals and concerns." This resume example shows what nutrition specialists do with listening skills on a typical day: "communicated daily by phone, email, or in person with hospital staff, doctors, patients, and military personal. "
Problem-solving skills. Another crucial skill for a nutrition specialist to carry out their responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." A big part of what nutrition specialists relies on this skill, since "dietitians and nutritionists must evaluate the health status of clients and determine appropriate food choices to improve overall health or manage disease." How this skill relates to nutrition specialist duties can be seen in an example from a nutrition specialist resume snippet: "incorporate problem solving when providing solutions for issues such as food allergies. "
Speaking skills. Lastly, "speaking skills" is an important element of what a nutrition specialist does. Nutrition specialist responsibilities require this skill because "dietitians and nutritionists must explain complicated topics in a way that people can understand." This resume example highlights how nutrition specialist duties rely on this skill: "presented nutrition programs to parents/students. "
The three companies that hire the most nutrition specialists are:
- Children's Hospital Colorado19 nutrition specialists jobs
- Petco Holdings, Inc.6 nutrition specialists jobs
- University of Maryland Medical System6 nutrition specialists jobs
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Compare different nutrition specialists
Nutrition specialist 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.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between nutrition specialists and dietary aide. For instance, nutrition specialist responsibilities require skills such as "pet," "nutritional care," "patient care," and "nutrition education." Whereas a dietary aide is skilled in "meal trays," "food service," "food handling," and "food carts." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Dietary aides tend to make the most money working in the hospitality industry, where they earn an average salary of $29,402. In contrast, nutrition specialists make the biggest average salary, $58,810, in the health care industry.dietary aides tend to reach lower levels of education than nutrition specialists. In fact, dietary aides are 9.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.0% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Nutrition specialist vs. Dietetic internship
In a dietetic internship, an intern primarily performs support tasks to gain industry insights and experience while under a dietitian's directives and supervision. Their duties typically include conducting research and analyses, gathering and analyzing data from previous projects and studies, participating in the development of new meal and nutritional plans, and assisting in food delivery operations. They also take part in assessing a patient's health and treatment plans, providing nutrition education as necessary. Additionally, an intern must produce regular reports and uphold the facility's policies.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that nutrition specialist responsibilities requires skills like "pet," "nutritional care," "nutrition education," and "diabetes." But a dietetic internship might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "diabetes education," "oncology," "nutrition assessments," and "long-term care."
In general, dietetic interns achieve similar levels of education than nutrition specialists. They're 4.0% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nutrition specialist vs. Clinical dietitian
A clinical dietitian is responsible for providing quality nutritional care for patients by monitoring their current health conditions, advising nutritional and dietary supplements to maintain their healthy lifestyle, and speed up their recovery process. Clinical dietitians often coordinate with other medical professionals to assess food choices and develop nutrition programs for the patients. A clinical dietitian must have excellent knowledge of the medical industry to offer the best services to the patients and accurately handle their inquiries and concerns.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from nutrition specialist resumes include skills like "pet," "nutritional care," "nutrition education," and "rd," whereas a clinical dietitian is more likely to list skills in "home health," "nutrition care process," "patient satisfaction," and "patient education. "
Clinical dietitians earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $56,882. Nutrition specialists earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $58,810.clinical dietitians typically earn higher educational levels compared to nutrition specialists. Specifically, they're 10.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nutrition specialist vs. Research dietitian
Types of nutrition specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
