Under supervision of the Chief Dietitian, the Dietetic Technician performs specialized paraprofessional clinical duties in a hospital nutrition program. The essential functions of the job include, but are not limited to the following:
- Assists Dietitian in collecting basic nutritionally relevant patient/resident data to perform nutritional screening and preliminary nutritional risk evaluation; interviews patients/residents to obtain food preferences, diet history, and related information; discusses patient/resident needs with the health care team; in an acute care setting, determines whether the patient/resident may require a nutritional assessment which is performed by a Registered Dietitian; in a skilled nursing setting, determines the immediacy/urgency of a nutritional assessment, care plan, and intervention that is performed by a Registered Dietitian;
- Assists Dietitian in providing nutritional education for patient/resident and their families involving principles of special therapeutic diets; reviews current dietary practices of patient/resident and their families; evaluates patient/resident understanding and expected level of compliance; makes recommendations for follow up education;
- Collects pertinent clinical data from patient/resident medical records in order to accurately identify current nutrition problems; utilizes approved, institution specific documentation standards to chart pertinent nutritional information into patient/resident medical record;
- Assists Dietitian in performing nutritional analysis; calculates and analyzes patient/resident food and fluid intake, weight records, menu patterns, and enteral nutrition formula orders;
- Assists Dietitian in implementing patient/resident nutritional preferences and monitor care plans; retrieves clinical information; generates reports and performs other duties utilizing computerized systems.
The 2622 Dietetic Technician may perform other duties as assigned/required.