Ready?
Dietitian — your shift
Find out what is actually being eaten before you change anything — and some of these are emergencies. Read what this person needs, then tap the place that sorts it out.
Full screen — no distractions
What does a dietitian do?
You work out what somebody can actually eat when their body has stopped handling food normally — and it is a clinical decision, not advice about being healthy.
Also called: clinical dietitian, registered dietitian, nutrition specialist.
A day looks like
- 1You calculate a feed for somebody who cannot eat at all, in millilitres per hour, and get it checked.
- 2You sit with a teenager with diabetes who has been told what to eat by six people and listened to none of them.
- 3You work out why somebody on a ward has lost four kilos when the charts say they are eating.
- 4You correct something you read on the internet, gently, for the fourth time that week.
Hardest part
Being the profession everybody thinks they could do. You are competing with a phone full of confident strangers, and you have to be more interesting than they are.
Best part
Getting somebody off a feeding tube and back onto real food at a real table.
How you actually become a dietitian
- At schoolChemistry and biology — this is a science degree, not a food course.
- TrainingA three- or four-year dietetics degree with hospital placements, then registration.
- How longThree to four years to qualify, then a year or two before you run a caseload alone.
- Your first jobBand 5 dietitian rotating through wards, outpatients and community.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist?
- In most countries 'dietitian' is a protected title — it requires an accredited degree and registration, and dietitians are the only nutrition professionals qualified to treat clinical conditions. 'Nutritionist' is not always protected and anyone may use it.
- Do dietitians just tell people to eat less?
- Very rarely. Most hospital dietetics is about people who are not eating enough — after strokes, cancer treatment, surgery or in intensive care. Calculating feeds for people who cannot eat at all is a large part of the job.
- Is it a science job?
- Yes. It is biochemistry applied to a person: electrolytes, protein requirements, absorption and drug interactions. The talking part is real, but the decisions underneath it are clinical calculations.
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