Dietetic Technician Job Description

A Dietetic Technician assists the clinical dietitian with direct clinical nutrition care in assigned inpatient and outpatient areas.

Primary Objectives:

• The Dietetic Technician working as a Level I Dietetic Technician performs all work under the supervision of a registered dietitian licensed in accordance with the state that they are working.
• The Level I Dietetic Technician must document patient plan of care and provide them with education on their diet plan.
• Level II Dietetic Technician performs the same duties as the Level I Dietetic Technician but may assume some leadership duties with permission of the supervisor.
• The Dietetic Technician must have a high school diploma; attend Community College taking courses in Food Service.

The Dietetic Technician must participate in interdisciplinary team rounds as appropriate help Screen patients admitted to assigned units and determine nutrition risk. The Dietetic Technician must identify patients at high nutrition risk and refer them to the clinical dietitian as appropriate. The Dietetic Technician monitors nutritional status of patients who are NPO, according to policy Provide medical nutrition therapy to low to moderate risk patients. The Dietetic Technician records nutrient intake data and completes summary, according to the hospitals policy. The Dietetic Technician also records laboratory data, patient weight, and other data as requested by supervising clinical diet titian.
The Dietetic Technician who works with infants must collect orders for, prepare and deliver specialized infant formulas according to the instructions of the supervisor. They must also keep a close watch on the infant’s amount of intake and any weight change. The report on the infant progress is made usually hourly and if any changes are occurring then they must report to the supervisor or head nurse.
The Dietetic Technician must have the capability of working well with others as they need to be in constant contact with food service associates in order to report the food service needs of patients. They are of course in contact with the patient giving them advice and explain why certain foods are better than others. They are instrumental in teaching patients what to eat when they return home and sometimes even how to prepare the food properly. The Dietetic Technician councils not only the patient but in many cases the family of the patient. Therapeutic diets often consist of low sodium, high protein or calorie related often must be taught to patients. The Dietetic Technician may be asking to develop or update educational materials as needed for patients. Sometimes basic materials are all that is necessary for a patient but in some cases educational materials must be created for specific needs.

The Dietetic Technician is expected to attend department and hospital staff meetings in order to keep up to date with all aspects of what is happening in the hospital. The Dietetic Technician needs to be knowledgeable in special equipment in the food service areas as well as in room service because it may help with the diet of patients. The Dietetic Technician is responsible for helping patients to recognize foods that are not properly made or contain too much salt. It is vital that the Dietetic Technician be on top of all food that is served to people on special diets. Certain patients like diabetics for instance must stick to their diet in order to make sure that their insulin level is properly kept. While their other problems that people face that cause them to need specialized diets diabetics and people with heart problems are often the ones of the most concerns for the Dietetic Technician.
The problems range from people being over-weight to under- weight causing the Dietetic Technician to be concerned with the ways that weight control can be managed. There are people who suffer from cancer and taking chemo therapy that require special diets. There are others who have different disease that require special diets all of which the Dietetic Technician must be fully aware of their problems and make sure that the proper diet is prepared and served to them from the food service associates. Even though the Dietetic Technician comes up with the best of diets the food that is served must be monitored and the amount of which is served must be measured to insure that the patient is receiving the right diet.

Degrees and Training to Become a Dietetic Technician

• Medical and Health – Administration Degree

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