Outpatient dietitian vs clinical nutritionist

The differences between outpatient dietitians and clinical nutritionists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an outpatient dietitian and a clinical nutritionist. Additionally, a clinical nutritionist has an average salary of $63,591, which is higher than the $62,717 average annual salary of an outpatient dietitian.

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

Outpatient dietitian vs clinical nutritionist overview

	Outpatient Dietitian	Clinical Nutritionist
Yearly salary	$62,717	$63,591
Hourly rate	$30.15	$30.57
Growth rate	7%	7%
Number of jobs	10,972	57,652
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	2	2

Outpatient dietitian vs clinical nutritionist salary

Outpatient dietitians and clinical nutritionists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Outpatient Dietitian	Clinical Nutritionist
Average salary	$62,717	$63,591
Salary range	Between $38,000 And $102,000	Between $31,000 And $130,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between outpatient dietitian and clinical nutritionist education

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Clinical Nutritionist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common major	Dietetics	Dietetics
Most common college	University of Maryland - College Park	Purdue University

Outpatient dietitian vs clinical nutritionist demographics

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Clinical Nutritionist
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 7.5% Female, 92.5%	Male, 12.0% Female, 88.0%
Race ratio	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%	Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 10.9% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between outpatient dietitian and clinical nutritionist duties and responsibilities

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.

Clinical nutritionist example responsibilities.

Manage the anemia status of patients by reviewing necessary lab data and initiating or adjusting medication doses.
Train patients in diabetes self-management and continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (insulin pump therapy).
Participate in weekly interdisciplinary rounds to further evaluate patients at increase nutritional risk and discuss the appropriate route for recovery.
Initiate application process for ADA approve diabetes education program.
Conduct medical nutrition management on outpatient basis; conduct weight control and diabetes education groups.
Participate in interdisciplinary biweekly meetings for rehabilitation unit.

Outpatient dietitian vs clinical nutritionist skills

Common outpatient dietitian skills

Patients, 30%
Medical Nutrition Therapy, 11%
Patient Care, 6%
Nutrition Services, 5%
Home Health, 4%
Healthcare Professionals, 4%

Common clinical nutritionist skills

Patients, 31%
Medical Nutrition Therapy, 8%
Nutrition Education, 6%
Diabetes, 6%
Nutritional Risk, 5%
RD, 4%

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Outpatient Dietitian
Outpatient Dietitian vs Clinical Nutritionist

Updated January 8, 2025

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