Outpatient dietitian vs research dietitian

The differences between outpatient dietitians and research 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 research dietitian. Additionally, an outpatient dietitian has an average salary of $62,717, which is higher than the $57,712 average annual salary of a research dietitian.

The top three skills for an outpatient dietitian include patients, medical nutrition therapy and patient care. The most important skills for a research dietitian are patients, data collection, and principal investigators.

Outpatient dietitian vs research dietitian overview

	Outpatient Dietitian	Research Dietitian
Yearly salary	$62,717	$57,712
Hourly rate	$30.15	$27.75
Growth rate	7%	7%
Number of jobs	10,972	50,771
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	2	2

Outpatient dietitian vs research dietitian salary

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Research Dietitian
Average salary	$62,717	$57,712
Salary range	Between $38,000 And $102,000	Between $33,000 And $99,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between outpatient dietitian and research dietitian education

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Research 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 research dietitian demographics

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

	Outpatient Dietitian	Research Dietitian
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 7.5% Female, 92.5%	Male, 5.4% Female, 94.6%
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, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 9.7% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between outpatient dietitian and research 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.

Research dietitian example responsibilities.

Manage all IRB submissions, sponsor communications, participate in monitoring visits, drug reconciliation and dispensing.
Assist with testing and QA of new programs, workflows and software systems.
Provide dietary counseling to patients enroll in major pharmaceutical trials and in-house studies.
Provide nutrition assessment and calculate individualized nutrition prescriptions to ensure patients' nutritional needs are met.
Coordinate a high-risk research site for international study focuse on FDA and CE mark approval of implant insulin delivery technology.
Provide individualized nutrition consultations for sports nutrition, weight-loss, diabetes, hypertension and hormonal changes.

Outpatient dietitian vs research 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 research dietitian skills

Patients, 59%
Data Collection, 10%
Principal Investigators, 5%
Informed Consent, 4%
Study Protocols, 3%
Medical Nutrition Therapy, 3%

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Outpatient Dietitian
Outpatient Dietitian vs Research Dietitian

Updated January 8, 2025

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