Definition of a dietitian
Dietitians apply the art and science of human nutrition to help people understand the relationship between food and health and make dietary choices to attain and maintain health, and to prevent and treat illness and disease.
Roles and Responsibilities of a dietitian include
- Collecting, organising and assessing data relating to the health and nutritional status of individuals, groups and populations.
- Interpreting scientific information and communicating information, advice, education and professional opinion to individuals, groups and communities.
- Managing client centred nutrition care for individuals by planning appropriate diets and menus and educating people on their individual nutritional needs and ways of accessing and preparing their food.
- Planning, implementing and evaluating nutrition programs with groups, communities or populations as part of a team. This may be in a community health, public health or food industry setting.
- Managing food service systems to provide safe and nutritious food by designing nutritionally appropriate menus and designing and implementing nutrition policies.
- Undertaking food and nutrition research and evaluating practice.
In Australia all dietitians are considered to be nutritionists however, nutritionists without a dietetics qualification cannot take on the specialised role of a dietitian.
A more detailed list of the knowledge, skills and attributes of dietitians in Australia can be found in the National Competency Standards for Dietitians.