Clinical nutritionist
The career opportunities in clinical nutrition
Anutritionist is a health specialist who devotes professional activity to food and nutritional science, preventive nutrition, diseases related to nutrient deficiencies and the use of nutrient manipulation to enhance the clinical response to human diseases.
Clinical nutritionists, in specific, are directed to health care of hospitalised patients and planning diets for people suffering from certain diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, obesity and other lifestylerelated disorders. Depending on nutrition needs of patients, clinical nutritionists prepare their diet charts and monitor results of dietary therapy and maintain records.
Opportunities in this field are growing. As regards a clinical nutritionist, a multi-specialty hospital provides moderate to complex nutrition case management of medically high risk individuals requiring physician-prescribed dietary and nutrition regimens and intensive counselling and conducts educational programmes for the community, based on needs assessment.
WORK PROFILE
The major tasks include providing nutrition services to clients with significant nutrition problems, such as planning individual diets for clients with multiple conditions and conflicting dietary restrictions according to programme standards and protocols, maintaining appropriate records of nutrition services rendered and ensuring that all nutrition services provided are properly documented, assessing training needs, developing training materials and conducting training sessions among others.
A dietician in a large teaching hospital is also involved in food service management of the hospital kitchen catering to indoor hospital-diet patients, planning normal and therapeutic diets, administration of dietary services staff/personnel, teaching medical, nursing and dietetic short-term training programme students, dietary/nutritional counselling of outdoor and indoor hospitalised patients and conducts research activities.
SKILL-SET REQUIRED
Candidates aiming to seek admission to the Bachelor's course are required to have a pass in +2 in science subjects covering physics, chemistry and biology. The threeyear BSc in Home Science courses cover subjects including food and nutrition.
At the postgraduation level, dietetics and nutrition courses can be either pursued as a two-year Master's programme or one-year postgraduate diploma in dietetics and public health nutrition (DDPHN). In a two-year MSc (Home Science) course, one can specialise in food and nutrition.
REMUNERATION
The starting salary can range between Rs 10,000 - 15,000 per month for students with MSc in Food and Nutrition and between Rs 7,000- 10,000 for students with one-year postgraduate DDPHN.
After gaining more experience, their salary may range between Rs 20,000 to 50,000 with other benefits. Government-based nutrition programmes and mid-day meal programmes at national and statelevel are appointing MSc (Food and Nutrition) candidates beginning with Rs 12,000-15,000 per month.
Dieticians in government hospitals begin with Rs 12,000-15,000 per month and in private practice, one can earn more depending on experience. International organisations like World Health Organisation, Food and Agricultural Organisation and Unicef etc. offer excellent career opportunities for MSc (Food and Nutrition) and PhD students.
Sunil Sharma
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