Therapeutic dietitian vs clinical nutritionist

The differences between therapeutic 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 a therapeutic dietitian and a clinical nutritionist. Additionally, a clinical nutritionist has an average salary of $63,591, which is higher than the $60,038 average annual salary of a therapeutic dietitian.

The top three skills for a therapeutic dietitian include nutritional risk, nutritional care and medical nutrition therapy. The most important skills for a clinical nutritionist are patients, medical nutrition therapy, and nutrition education.

Therapeutic dietitian vs clinical nutritionist overview

	Therapeutic Dietitian	Clinical Nutritionist
Yearly salary	$60,038	$63,591
Hourly rate	$28.86	$30.57
Growth rate	7%	7%
Number of jobs	6,213	57,652
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 88%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	2	2

Therapeutic dietitian vs clinical nutritionist salary

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

	Therapeutic Dietitian	Clinical Nutritionist
Average salary	$60,038	$63,591
Salary range	Between $31,000 And $114,000	Between $31,000 And $130,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between therapeutic dietitian and clinical nutritionist education

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

	Therapeutic Dietitian	Clinical Nutritionist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 88%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common major	Dietetics	Dietetics
Most common college	University of Maryland - College Park	Purdue University

Therapeutic dietitian vs clinical nutritionist demographics

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

	Therapeutic Dietitian	Clinical Nutritionist
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 3.1% Female, 96.9%	Male, 12.0% Female, 88.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 3.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 7.0% White, 72.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	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 therapeutic dietitian and clinical nutritionist duties and responsibilities

Therapeutic dietitian example responsibilities.

Manage the anemia status of patients by reviewing necessary lab data and initiating or adjusting medication doses.
Provide individual and group nutrition counseling, including interactive nutrition and culinary sessions to low-income multicultural communities.
Provide individualized nutrition consultations for sports nutrition, weight-loss, diabetes, hypertension and hormonal changes.

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.

Therapeutic dietitian vs clinical nutritionist skills

Common therapeutic dietitian skills

Nutritional Risk, 47%
Nutritional Care, 30%
Medical Nutrition Therapy, 23%

Common clinical nutritionist skills

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

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Therapeutic Dietitian
Therapeutic Dietitian vs Clinical Nutritionist

Updated January 8, 2025

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