Clinical Dietitian

Clinical Dietitian POSITION SUMMARY

The Dietitian provides nutrition services to residents living in a long term care setting and works closely with the multidisciplinary healthcare team to provide patient care that is integrated and compatible with the patient-focused medical goals and objectives. Primary responsibilities include application of the Nutrition Care Process (NCP) including completion of the nutrition assessment, determination of the nutrition diagnosis, developing and implementing nutrition intervention(s), and monitoring and evaluating of the patient’s progress.

The Clinical Dietitian uses the Scope of Dietetics Practice Framework (SODPF) to determine scope of practice, established Standards of Practice and Professional Performance (SOP/SOPP) in nutrition care and practice-specific dietetics, and, as available, evidence-based practice protocols/nutrition practice guidelines to help determine nutrition intervention(s).

Skills/Abilities

• Knowledge of the Nutrition Care Process as it relates to the needs of geriatric patients and ability to apply all steps of the process.
• Comprehensive knowledge and application of nutrition services and medical nutrition therapy with emphasis on the geriatric population.
• Critical thinking to integrate facts, informed opinions, active listening, and observations.
• Decision making, problem solving and collaboration.
• Excellent counseling skills and the ability to relate to a multi-ethnic community and varied learning levels.
• Strong interpersonal skills to establish productive working relationships with multidisciplinary team and support services.
• Ability to communicate effectively in both written and verbal form to patients, public, medical staff, and physicians.
• Ability to function independently on assigned patient care units and/or outpatient clinics.
• General knowledge of nutrient analysis, word processing, and spreadsheet software.
• Notify supervising dietitian of assessments that needs to be co-signed

• Conducts a nutrition assessment when warranted by a resident’s needs or conditions.
• Ensures that Minimum Data Set (MDS) forms are completed and documents results and recommendations in the medical record as requested by facility.
• Reviews dietary intake for factors that affect health conditions and nutritional risk.
• Supervises culinary director’s screening and data collection activities. Trains the dietetic technician and registered or certified dietary manager on appropriate documentation procedures.
• Evaluates health and disease condition for nutrition-related consequences.
• Evaluates psychosocial, functional, and behavioral factors related to food access, selection, and preparation; physical activity; and understanding of health condition.
• Evaluates resident’s knowledge, readiness to learn, and potential for changing behaviors.
• Identifies standards by which data will be compared.
• Identifies possible problem areas for making nutrition diagnoses.
• Observes resident for nonverbal and verbal cues that can guide and prompt effective interviewing methods.
• Determines appropriate data to collect.
• Selects assessment tools and procedures (matching the assessment method to the situation) and applies assessment tools in valid and reliable ways.
• Distinguishes relevant from irrelevant data and important from unimportant data, and validates the data.
• Organizes and categorizes the data in a meaningful framework that relates to nutrition problems.
• Determines when a problem requires consultation with or referral to another provider.

• Finds patterns and relationships among the data and possible causes for the nutrition problem.
• Prioritizes the relative importance of problems for resident’s safety.
• Documents the nutrition diagnostic statement in PES (problem, etiology, and signs/symptom) or PE format.

• Formulates and determines a plan of action that is focused on the etiology of the problem and known to be effective based on best current knowledge and evidence from Evidence-Based Nutrition Practice Guidelines.
• Assesses educational needs and provides nutrition counseling for residents and/or families…