Duties and Responsibilities of Nutritionists/Dietitians

The duties and responsibilities of Nutritionists and Dietitians are well captured in the Revised Scheme of Service for Nutrition and Dietetics Personnel 2014.

Just to mention a few, they include;    

Preventive and Promotive Healthcare Services - Summary

1.     Educating community members and encouraging adoption of a healthy lifestyle 

2.     Initiating and ensuring nutrition and health behavior change communication (BCC)

3.     Initiating health awareness campaigns e.g. 6 months Exclusive Breastfeeding and continued breastfeeding up to at least 2 years, prevention of malnutrition and stunting in children, Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs e.g. Cancer, Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity)prevention

4.     Prevention of maternal and child health complications by correcting nutrient deficiencies which research has proven to cause diseases and premature deaths.

5.     Demonstrating cooking methods to preserve nutrients and gain maximum nutrition from different foods.

6.     Health education and communication on healthy food choices and specific ingredients in manufactured foods that predispose them to diseases e.g. Salt – Hypertension, Sodium Benzoate – Cancer, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), Simple Carbohydrates-Diabetes, High Fructose Corn Starch (HFCS) – Obesity among many others.    

7.     Collaborating with Stakeholders e.g. NGOs, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Agriculture to ensure food availability, accessibility, affordability and safety, kitchen gardening, among others

Curative Healthcare Services – Summary

1.     Providing outpatient and inpatient nutrition care

2.     Providing therapeutic nutrition support for effective disease management in health facilities and shortening length of patients stay in the hospital

3.     Providing nutrition care for Pre-term and Low Birth Weight babies and preventing newborn mortalities

4.     Nutrition management in specialized clinics including HIV/AIDS, Diabetes, Tuberculosis, Renal clinics, ICU, Burns, Prenatal and Antenatal, Cancer Management, Cardiovascular and ALL other specialized clinics (Specialized Medical Nutrition Therapy)    

5.     Management of Malnutrition (Undernutrition/wasting and Obesity)

6.     Calculating dietary requirements for each patient and developing  meal plans

7.     Supervising administration of inpatient feeds ; Enteral and Parenteral

8.     Admitting patients to Supplementary Feeds e.g. Flours, Micro-Nutrient Powders (MNPs), RUTF among others   

9.     Implementation of baby friendly hospital and community initiatives

10.                        Assessing and reviewing nutrition referral cases  

11.                        Facilitating nutrition in health and inter-sectoral teams, among other roles

Nutritionists/Dietitians play a crucial role in Preventive, Promotive and Curative Healthcare. So, how can Nutrition and Nutritionists’ reduce the Curative Healthcare budget? Let’s discuss that in the next article.