What are the job roles and responsibilities of a Dietitian ?

What Does a Dietitian Do?

Learn about the key requirements, duties, responsibilities, salaries and required skills that should be in a dietitian job description.

Job designation: - Dietitian

Typical responsibilities of the Dietitian job include:

A dietitian is a trained professional whose job is to guide patients and people to make changes or modifications in their diet to improve their health and lifestyle. They have to work within a team in hospitals and clinics where they have to deal with the health issues of people belonging from various age groups.

Dietitian’s duties and responsibilities

A dietitian’s role plays an important part in every person’s life. They are responsible for the overall health development and progress of a person’s health. They should have a strong sense of responsibility towards their patients and a strong presence of mind to see what is wrong with the patients.

• Creating healthy and nutritious diets for patients

• Advising eating healthy food 

• Monitoring eating habits and diets of individual, family members or both

• Creating diet charts for those who are suffering major health issues

• Researching on various topics of health recovery and progress

• Creation of new age diet for people who are young or becoming health conscious

• Guiding old-aged or senior citizens to make changes in their eating habits

• Advising parents and their children in their daily diet and food they consume

• Creating restrictions for people who are indulging in junk foods

• Analysing changes in health patterns after recommending changes in diets

Places of employment for a Dietitian

A dietitian can get employed where there are requirements of changing diet ranging from small groups of people to large populations where health decline is on a rise. They are often required for consultation or suggestion to make sure the performance of people in their daily lives remain intact.

• Hospitals and nursing homes (both private and governments)

• Sports and Health facilities at district level, state level and national level

• Research and Development institutes for governments or private firms

• Academic research at colleges and universities

• International sports such as the World Cups (any sport) or the Olympics 

• Charitable organisations, support groups and NGOs where poor and needy people need help in their diets

• Schools, colleges and universities where children are more prone to health risks due to junk foods

Work schedule of a Dietitian

Dietitians usually work for 40 hours a week from 9AM to 5PM. In certain areas where health issues are heavy, they might have to work on their weekends as well. If necessary, they work in their own chamber at their homes. 

Qualifications required to become a Dietitian 

A certain number of qualifications is required to become a practicing dietitian. Mostly it requires a graduation degree and for higher levels post-graduation is a must for certain hospitals along with work experience. In some institutes, the candidate must be required to complete a 6 months internship and clear the Registered Dietitian entrance exam to get licensed from the IDA (Indian Dietic Association). For certain institutes, entrance exam marks are necessary.

Under-graduate courses to become a Dietitian

• B.A./B.Sc in Nutrition

• B.Sc in Food Technology

Eligibility to pursue the course: -

• Any stream with 50 to 60 percent in Class 12th exams from a recognised board (Science mostly preferred)

• Merit-based admission or entrance exams as per some institutes

Entrance-exams to be taken to pursue the course

Exams are now mandatory to pursue courses on diet and food science. These tests determine the eligibility of the candidate and the knowledge required to pursue it. These tests are on national, state and institutional level

• AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) Entrance Test.

• JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) Entrance Examination.

• DU (University of Delhi) Entrance Examination.

• JMI (Jamia Milia Islamia) Entrance Exam.

Institutes which are offering these courses 

• AIIMS

• Christ University

• St Xaviers College (Mumbai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad)

• The Oxford College of Science

• Hindu College

Post-graduate courses for a Dietitian

• M.Sc in Food and Nutrition
  
  

Eligibility to pursue the course: -

• 50% to 60% during graduation with science stream

• Merit-based admission or entrance exams as per some institutes

Entrance-exams to be taken to pursue the course

• Entrance Exam of Osmania University College for Women

• Common Entrance Test with Personal Interview and counselling 

Institutes which are offering these courses 

• Osmania University College for Women

• Chandigarh University

• St Teresa’s College

• NIMS University, Jaipur

Key/Technical skills of a Dietitian

• In-depth understanding of nutrition of today’s generation of people 

• Humble and polite towards patients

• Being empathic towards patients’ health

• Being able to convince and convey changes in the patient’s diet

• Good communication skills to convey what they mean

• Motivating others to take action to change their health

Salary expectations of a Dietitian

• Average salary: - Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 3 lakhs

• Entry level salary: - Rs. 2 lakhs

• Experienced-level salary (10 to 20 years of work experience): - Rs. 4.2 lakhs and above

Process of getting the job of a dietitian

There are numerous ways of getting a job as a dietician. 

• Placement from medical colleges and other recognised institutions

• Job searching on LinkedIn or Indeed for dietitian posts

• Checking out any company’s profile and requirements for a dietitian 

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• Nutritionist

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