Outpatient dietitian vs public health dietitian

The differences between outpatient dietitians and public health 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 public health dietitian. Additionally, an outpatient dietitian has an average salary of $62,717, which is higher than the $60,855 average annual salary of a public health dietitian.

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

Outpatient dietitian vs public health dietitian overview

	Outpatient Dietitian	Public Health Dietitian
Yearly salary	$62,717	$60,855
Hourly rate	$30.15	$29.26
Growth rate	7%	7%
Number of jobs	10,972	66,512
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	2	2

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.

What does a public health dietitian do?

Public health dieticians can expect an annual pay of around $65K but require a four-year bachelor's degree and studies in nutrition, physiology, biology, and other related science courses for this career, as well as a skill set that includes organizational, analytical, speaking and people skills. They help coordinate with food suppliers and faculty administrators for the provision of menus that will meet individually-based dietary needs.

Outpatient dietitian vs public health dietitian salary

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Public Health Dietitian
Average salary	$62,717	$60,855
Salary range	Between $38,000 And $102,000	Between $31,000 And $116,000
Highest paying City	-	San Mateo, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Amazon
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between outpatient dietitian and public health dietitian education

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Public Health Dietitian
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Most common major	Dietetics	Dietetics
Most common college	University of Maryland - College Park	University of Maryland - College Park

Outpatient dietitian vs public health dietitian demographics

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Public Health Dietitian
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 7.5% Female, 92.5%	Male, 5.1% Female, 94.9%
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, 9.6% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 9.2% White, 65.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between outpatient dietitian and public health 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.

Public health dietitian example responsibilities.

Manage the anemia status of patients by reviewing necessary lab data and initiating or adjusting medication doses.
Partner with certify diabetes educator on consulting gestational diabetic patients on glucose monitors and diabetic eating guidelines.
Provide diabetes education to community groups.
Implement and develop diabetes information newsletters.
Provide medical nutrition therapy for medically high risk patients.
Write quarterly project newsletters, create tools need to properly assess for obesity causing behaviors and develop educationmaterials as needed.

Outpatient dietitian vs public health 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 public health dietitian skills

Public Health, 28%
Patients, 15%
WIC Program, 7%
Nutrition Services, 5%
Medical Nutrition Therapy, 5%
Community Nutrition, 4%

Outpatient Dietitian vs. similar jobs

Outpatient Dietitian related careers

Outpatient Dietitian related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Industry
Outpatient Dietitian
Outpatient Dietitian vs Public Health Dietitian

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse healthcare practitioner and technical jobs