Inpatient Registered Dietitian-Part time

Overview

Position Summary Assesses and coordinates diet therapy and nutrition education activities for patients. Plans and provides nutritional care to patients by interpreting and adapting physician prescribed diets to individual needs. Responsible for creating diet regimens for patients and for educating individuals on the benefits of maintaining proper dietary standards. Evaluates and assesses patient responses to diet therapy through direct interviews, calculating nutrient intake and lab values, and monitoring tolerance of foods, tube feedings and/or parenteral nutrition.

The work of the dietitian may vary based on assigned patient population or department.

• Provide nutritional care to hospitalized patients; review physician prescriptions for patients’ feedings and interview patients to obtain information regarding food habits for guidance in planning diet; assess nutritional status based on laboratory values, medical and nutritional history, and medical/surgical condition; develop nutritional care plans in accordance with accepted standards of practice and department protocols.
• Document in the electronic health record (EHR) using the Nutrition Care Process; consult with physicians regarding possible changes in diet orders; develop and plan individual diets including necessary supplements and tube feedings; review menus for correct patient selections and menu modifications and make appropriate substitutions.
• Maintain records of all patients seen and recommended therapeutic actions; make referrals for follow-up nutritional care when appropriate.
• Monitor patients to determine changes in nutritional status; check weights and lab values; assess adequacy of intake from food, tube, or parenteral feedings as necessary.
• Recommend supplements and/or tube feedings; monitor tube feedings for tolerance and assist physician in determining increases in rate and strength as appropriate.
• Perform nutritional support assessments (including intravenous feeding) as assigned; document all clinical data in the EHR according to departmental policies.
• Instruct patients and their families, individually and in groups, regarding diet therapy after hospitalization; cover nutrition principles, purposes and use of diet, food selection and preparation, and adapting plans to individual needs.
• Participate in weekly medical and social service rounds to discuss condition, treatment, discharge planning, and dietary requirements; discuss treatment and diet plans and case studies.
• Participate in daily rounds with medical/surgical teams as necessary.
• Meet daily with the nutrition support dietitian to coordinate continuity of care for critically ill patients who transition to staff dietitian responsibility.
• Research, test, develop, and document patient-focused recipes.
• Participate in food evaluation and product testing; evaluate commercially prepared supplements and beverages and recommend usage based on nutritional content and patient response; evaluate food served for quality and compliance with dietary prescriptions.
• Provide in-service education in nutrition to hospital personnel; compile and develop educational materials for use in individual and group classes.
• Act as preceptor in the education/training of dietetic interns and medical staff.
• Provide nutritional care for malnourished and/or critically ill patients; diagnose malnutrition and document in the EHR; use nutrition-focused physical exam to assess status; determine solutions for total parenteral nutrition and tube feedings when appropriate and submit to physician for approval as well as chart in medical records.
• Monitor daily nutritional status; review daily intake, laboratory values, anthropometrics and nutrition-focused physical exam; prepare diet plans…