What does a Nutritionist do?
A nutritionist is a health professional who helps patients choose the right things to eat and advise them on the health effects of certain foods. By being experts in food and nutrition, nutritionists assess a patient's dietary habits and create plan menus for them. They usually work closely with patients who have medical issues such as diabetes or those undergoing chemotherapy. Nutritionists are also required to speak to students or employees about the importance of good nutrition and preventing health problems through proper foods.
Nutritionist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real nutritionist resumes:
- Lead weekly nutritional education workshops on diabetes management, in addition to providing individual counseling.
- Inspire patients to proactively manage their diabetes, to include administering insulin and taking prescribe medications.
- Follow up in the out-patient GI clinic for tube feeding regimens, assessing growth and food allergies.
- Establish clients via social media; maintain Facebook page.
- Develop training table menus for all NCAA scholarship athletes and attend training table.
- Provide complete instruction and advice to patients with diet-relate problems like diabetics, hypertension.
- Provide comprehensive nutritional care and diet counseling to inpatients (ICU and surgery units) and outpatients.
- Review menus to meet CACFP guidelines, monitor for sanitation and adherence to NC food program guidelines.
- Coordinate the transition of ready-prepare products to scratch cooking while monitoring employee compliance to USDA meal patterns and state regulations.
- Evaluate and modify monitoring tools and worksheets annually and assist in the revision of WIC policies and procedures as needed.
- Prepare intervention packet to administer to clients base on their medical history, USDA nutritional guidelines, and doctor's notes/prescription.
- Specialize diet education and formula prescription for infants and children with food allergies; birth defects; malnutrition and childhood diseases.
- Perform administrative duties pertaining to CACFP operations.
- Gather information on patient allergies and nutritional history/needs.
- Provide nutritional education and information to pet store customers.
Nutritionist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 21% of Nutritionists are proficient in Patients, Public Health, and WIC Program. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Compassion, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Nutritionists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 21%
Formulated individualized nutrition care plans, monitored progress, and adjusted goal-oriented interventions as appropriate for patients in an outpatient setting.
- Public Health, 8%
Developed/conducted staff training, community outreach, health fairs and public health agency networking
- WIC Program, 7%
Conducted nutrition assessments of women, infants and children to determine eligibility for participation and certification in the WIC program.
- RD, 6%
Worked as the RD for two WIC contract sites through the St. Charles Community Health Center.
- Food Service, 6%
Monitor food services operations to ensure conformance to nutritional, safety, sanitation and quality standards.
- Medical Nutrition Therapy, 4%
Provided complex clinical nutrition services and medical nutrition therapy to medically-high risk clients requiring comprehensive care.
Common skills that a nutritionist uses to do their job include "patients," "public health," and "wic program." You can find details on the most important nutritionist responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a nutritionist to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what nutritionists do because "dietitians and nutritionists must keep up with food and nutrition research." Additionally, a nutritionist resume shows how nutritionists use analytical skills: "supervised all employees within nutrition programs through the observation of work activities, consultation, statistical data and work reviews. "
Compassion. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling nutritionist duties is compassion. The role rewards competence in this skill because "dietitians and nutritionists must be caring and empathetic when helping clients address health and dietary issues and any related emotions." According to a nutritionist resume, here's how nutritionists can utilize compassion in their job responsibilities: "create a compassionate, caring, supportive and therapeutic environment for patients and families. "
Listening skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of nutritionists is listening skills. This skill is critical to many everyday nutritionist duties, as "dietitians and nutritionists must listen carefully to understand clients’ goals and concerns." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "conducted nutrition assessments utilizing open-ended questions, active listening, reaffirming concerns, and supporting client centered goals. "
Organizational skills. nutritionist 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 nutritionists do with organizational skills on a typical day: "assisted with administrative work including billing, scheduling, and organizational projects to help attain and retain patients. "
Problem-solving skills. Another common skill required for nutritionist responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." This skill comes up in the duties of nutritionists all the time, as "dietitians and nutritionists must evaluate the health status of clients and determine appropriate food choices to improve overall health or manage disease." An excerpt from a real nutritionist resume shows how this skill is central to what a nutritionist does: "maintained company confidential information identified and resolved lingering health issues with clients. "
Speaking skills. While "speaking skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to nutritionist responsibilities. Much of what a nutritionist does relies on this skill, seeing as "dietitians and nutritionists must explain complicated topics in a way that people can understand." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of nutritionists: "performed nutrition assessments and addressed client concerns. "
The three companies that hire the most nutritionists are:
- RWJBarnabas Health20 nutritionists jobs
- Sea Mar Community Health Centers16 nutritionists jobs
- Catholic Charities of Buffalo14 nutritionists jobs
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Compare different nutritionists
Nutritionist vs. Dietary aide
A dietary aide is responsible for assisting food preparations and ensuring that the meals adhere to an individual's specific diet plans. Dietary aides must strictly follow sanitation standards and hygiene procedures to guarantee the safety and quality of the service. They also help in facilitating kitchen maintenance, keeping every area clean and organized. Dietary aides must also have comprehensive knowledge of nutritional guidelines to provide information and share suggestions as necessary to improve the service and preparations.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between nutritionists and dietary aide. For instance, nutritionist responsibilities require skills such as "public health," "wic program," "rd," and "medical nutrition therapy." Whereas a dietary aide is skilled in "meal trays," "food handling," "food carts," and "tray line." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Dietary aides tend to make the most money working in the hospitality industry, where they earn an average salary of $29,402. In contrast, nutritionists make the biggest average salary, $76,221, in the finance industry.The education levels that dietary aides earn slightly differ from nutritionists. In particular, dietary aides are 12.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a nutritionist. Additionally, they're 1.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Nutritionist vs. Food adviser
In a dietetic internship, an intern primarily performs support tasks to gain industry insights and experience while under a dietitian's directives and supervision. Their duties typically include conducting research and analyses, gathering and analyzing data from previous projects and studies, participating in the development of new meal and nutritional plans, and assisting in food delivery operations. They also take part in assessing a patient's health and treatment plans, providing nutrition education as necessary. Additionally, an intern must produce regular reports and uphold the facility's policies.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, nutritionist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patients," "public health," "wic program," and "rd." Meanwhile, a food adviser has duties that require skills in areas such as "facility operations," "logistics," "equipment maintenance," and "food service operations." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Food advisers earn lower levels of education than nutritionists in general. They're 5.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Nutritionists in the next 3-5 years?
Shelley Fillipp
Associate Professor of Practice, Texas Tech University
Nutritionist vs. Pediatric clinical dietician
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a nutritionist is likely to be skilled in "public health," "wic program," "rd," and "food service," while a typical pediatric clinical dietician is skilled in "pt," "occupational therapy," "physical assessments," and "patient care."
When it comes to education, pediatric clinical dieticians tend to earn similar degree levels compared to nutritionists. In fact, they're 1.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 4.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Nutritionist vs. Dietetic internship
Even though a few skill sets overlap between nutritionists and dietetic interns, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a nutritionist might have more use for skills like "wic program," "rd," "food service," and "diabetes." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of dietetic interns require skills like "diabetes education," "oncology," "long-term care," and "food production. "
The average resume of dietetic interns showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to nutritionists. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.6%.Types of nutritionist
Updated April 25, 2024
