Nutritionist vs outpatient dietitian

The differences between nutritionists 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 nutritionist and an outpatient dietitian. Additionally, an outpatient dietitian has an average salary of $62,717, which is higher than the $49,877 average annual salary of a nutritionist.

The top three skills for a nutritionist include patients, public health and wic program. The most important skills for an outpatient dietitian are patients, medical nutrition therapy, and patient care.

Nutritionist vs outpatient dietitian overview

	Nutritionist	Outpatient Dietitian
Yearly salary	$49,877	$62,717
Hourly rate	$23.98	$30.15
Growth rate	7%	7%
Number of jobs	698	10,972
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	2	2

What does a nutritionist do?

A nutritionist is a health professional who helps patients choose the right things to eat and advise them on the health effects of certain foods. By being experts in food and nutrition, nutritionists assess a patient's dietary habits and create plan menus for them. They usually work closely with patients who have medical issues such as diabetes or those undergoing chemotherapy. Nutritionists are also required to speak to students or employees about the importance of good nutrition and preventing health problems through proper foods.

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.

Nutritionist vs outpatient dietitian salary

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

	Nutritionist	Outpatient Dietitian
Average salary	$49,877	$62,717
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $80,000	Between $38,000 And $102,000
Highest paying City	Santa Rosa, CA	-
Highest paying state	Alaska	-
Best paying company	Cargill	-
Best paying industry	Finance	-

Differences between nutritionist and outpatient dietitian education

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

	Nutritionist	Outpatient Dietitian
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Dietetics	Dietetics
Most common college	University of Maryland - College Park	University of Maryland - College Park

Nutritionist vs outpatient dietitian demographics

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

	Nutritionist	Outpatient Dietitian
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 15.8% Female, 84.2%	Male, 7.5% Female, 92.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 10.9% Asian, 9.9% White, 65.1% 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 Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between nutritionist and outpatient dietitian duties and responsibilities

Nutritionist example responsibilities.

Lead weekly nutritional education workshops on diabetes management, in addition to providing individual counseling.
Inspire patients to proactively manage their diabetes, to include administering insulin and taking prescribe medications.
Follow up in the out-patient GI clinic for tube feeding regimens, assessing growth and food allergies.
Establish clients via social media; maintain Facebook page.
Develop training table menus for all NCAA scholarship athletes and attend training table.
Provide complete instruction and advice to patients with diet-relate problems like diabetics, hypertension.

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.

Nutritionist vs outpatient dietitian skills

Common nutritionist skills

Patients, 21%
Public Health, 8%
WIC Program, 7%
RD, 6%
Food Service, 6%
Medical Nutrition Therapy, 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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Nutritionist
Nutritionist vs Outpatient Dietitian

Updated January 8, 2025

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