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.
Public health dietitian responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real public health dietitian resumes:
- 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.
- Assess nutrition needs of inpatient population including calculation of tube feeds and total parenteral nutrition (TPN).
- Provide clinical nutrition coverage as needed for medical-surgical, telemetry, intensive care unit, behavioral health and rehabilitative floors.
Public health dietitian skills and personality traits
We calculated that 28% of Public Health Dietitians are proficient in Public Health, Patients, and WIC Program. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Compassion, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Public Health Dietitians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Public Health, 28%
Serve as an educator of healthy lifestyles and provide clients with access to an array of additional public health services.
- Patients, 15%
Provided comprehensive nutrition services at two community health centers and two specialty clinics for patients referred for medical nutrition therapy.
- WIC Program, 7%
Directed and implemented nutrition services and supervised nutrition educators; assisted in internal auditing of the WIC Program.
- Nutrition Services, 5%
Developed procedures and protocols for outpatient nutrition services at San Francisco General Hospital.
- Medical Nutrition Therapy, 5%
Conducted Medical Nutrition Therapy through nutrition care process.
- Community Nutrition, 4%
Provide technical support to Community Nutrition Worker staff.
Common skills that a public health dietitian uses to do their job include "public health," "patients," and "wic program." You can find details on the most important public health dietitian responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a public health dietitian to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what public health dietitians do because "dietitians and nutritionists must keep up with food and nutrition research." Additionally, a public health dietitian resume shows how public health dietitians use analytical skills: "review client's anthropometric data, laboratory results and diet history of women, infants and children (wic). "
Compassion. Another essential skill to perform public health dietitian duties is compassion. Public health dietitians responsibilities require that "dietitians and nutritionists must be caring and empathetic when helping clients address health and dietary issues and any related emotions." Public health dietitians also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "conducted compassionate individual counseling implementing behavior management systems and conducted crisis intervention counseling as necessary. "
Listening skills. public health dietitians are also known for listening skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to public health dietitian responsibilities, because "dietitians and nutritionists must listen carefully to understand clients’ goals and concerns." A public health dietitian resume example shows how listening skills is used in the workplace: "instructed 4 dietetic interns weekly and communicated topical nutrition information to customers and staff daily. "
Organizational skills. public health dietitian responsibilities often require "organizational skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "dietitians and nutritionists must prepare and maintain many types of records for multiple clients." This resume example shows what public health dietitians do with organizational skills on a typical day: "planned and distributed organizational newsletters and press releases. "
Speaking skills. Another crucial skill for a public health dietitian to carry out their responsibilities is "speaking skills." A big part of what public health dietitians relies on this skill, since "dietitians and nutritionists must explain complicated topics in a way that people can understand." How this skill relates to public health dietitian duties can be seen in an example from a public health dietitian resume snippet: "presented nutrition lectures to health care professionals and other members of the community, through community outreach events. "
Problem-solving skills. Another skill commonly found on public health dietitian job descriptions is "problem-solving skills." It can come up quite often in public health dietitian duties, since "dietitians and nutritionists must evaluate the health status of clients and determine appropriate food choices to improve overall health or manage disease." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day public health dietitian responsibilities: "scheduled appointments for and resolved inquiries of attendees of the health programs. "
The three companies that hire the most public health dietitians are:
- My Florida Regional Mls15 public health dietitians jobs
- Florida Department of Transportation15 public health dietitians jobs
- Compass Group USA7 public health dietitians jobs
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Compare different public health dietitians
Public health dietitian vs. Food adviser
Nutrition interns are individuals who are on the job training for the tasks performed by licensed nutritionists or dieticians. The interns provide a nutrition care process that includes prescription of parenteral and enteral recommendations and analysis of laboratory values. They prepare a case study presentation that applies evidence-based guidelines and nutrition care process research. It is also part of their responsibilities to provide nutrition services, meal plans, and lesson plans.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a public health dietitian are more likely to require skills like "public health," "patients," "wic program," and "nutrition services." On the other hand, a job as a food adviser requires skills like "facility operations," "logistics," "food service," and "food preparation." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Food advisers tend to reach lower levels of education than public health dietitians. In fact, food advisers are 14.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Public health dietitian vs. Food and nutrition teacher
Nutrition specialists are skilled professionals who possess detailed knowledge of foods that are necessary for human health and growth. These specialists are required to provide comprehensive nutrition services to patients who are admitted to community health centers and specialty clinics for medical nutrition therapy. They must create diets and meal plans for patients based on their medical and dietary needs. Nutrition specialists must also organize community outreach efforts and other funded nutrition programs to encourage participation from professionals and lay groups.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real public health dietitian resumes. While public health dietitian responsibilities can utilize skills like "public health," "wic program," "medical nutrition therapy," and "community nutrition," food and nutrition teachers use skills like "dishes," "cash handling," "food handling," and "tray line."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Food and nutrition teachers tend to reach lower levels of education than public health dietitians. In fact, they're 18.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for public health dietitians in the next 3-5 years?
John Coupland Ph.D.
Professor of Food Science; Undergraduate Program Coordinator Chair of the Ingredients as Materials Impact Group, Pennsylvania State University
Public health dietitian vs. Nutrition internship
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, public health dietitians are more likely to have skills like "public health," "wic program," "nutrition services," and "nutritional risk." But a nutrition internship is more likely to have skills like "nutrition education programs," "rd," "student athletes," and "literature reviews."
Nutrition interns typically earn lower educational levels compared to public health dietitians. Specifically, they're 12.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Public health dietitian vs. Nutrition specialist
Types of public health dietitian
Updated January 8, 2025
