Outpatient dietitian vs community dietitian

The differences between outpatient dietitians and community dietitians 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 community dietitian. Additionally, an outpatient dietitian has an average salary of $62,717, which is higher than the $61,786 average annual salary of a community dietitian.

The top three skills for an outpatient dietitian include patients, medical nutrition therapy and patient care. The most important skills for a community dietitian are medical nutrition, health education, and heart disease.

Outpatient dietitian vs community dietitian overview

	Outpatient Dietitian	Community Dietitian
Yearly salary	$62,717	$61,786
Hourly rate	$30.15	$29.70
Growth rate	7%	7%
Number of jobs	10,972	16,585
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	2	2

Outpatient dietitian vs community dietitian salary

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Community Dietitian
Average salary	$62,717	$61,786
Salary range	Between $38,000 And $102,000	Between $30,000 And $123,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between outpatient dietitian and community dietitian education

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Community Dietitian
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Dietetics	Dietetics
Most common college	University of Maryland - College Park	University of Maryland - College Park

Outpatient dietitian vs community dietitian demographics

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Community Dietitian
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 7.5% Female, 92.5%	Male, 4.1% Female, 95.9%
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, 9.1% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.3% Asian, 9.0% White, 66.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between outpatient dietitian and community dietitian 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.

Community dietitian example responsibilities.

Manage the anemia status of patients by reviewing necessary lab data and initiating or adjusting medication doses.
Provide nutrition education and diet counseling to WIC participants, groups and individuals.
Provide basic nutrition education to WIC patients and teach nutrition classes in this rural community.
Monitor patients' nutrition status, laboratory values, diet tolerance, and motivate them to adhere to dietary/medications recommendations.
Provide individualized nutrition consultations for sports nutrition, weight-loss, diabetes, hypertension and hormonal changes.

Outpatient dietitian vs community dietitian skills

Common outpatient dietitian skills

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

Common community dietitian skills

Medical Nutrition, 17%
Health Education, 7%
Heart Disease, 6%
Community Health, 5%
Disease Management, 5%
Eating Disorders, 5%

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Outpatient Dietitian
Outpatient Dietitian vs Community Dietitian

Updated January 8, 2025

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