| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Allied Health |
| Level | Mid level |
| Reports to | Head of Allied Health Services |
| Direct reports | Dietitian |
| Experience | 5 to 8 years in hospital clinical nutrition, including ICU work |
Senior Dietitian job description template
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Job title: Senior Dietitian
Department: Allied Health
Reports to: Head of Allied Health Services
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Senior Dietitian leads clinical nutrition in a hospital. They handle the complex cases themselves, such as ICU feeding, kidney and liver diets and diabetic patients on insulin, supervise the dietitians covering wards and OPD, and work with the kitchen so each therapeutic diet leaves it as prescribed. They also own the nutrition screening process and the diet manual that NABH assessors ask to see.
Key responsibilities
- Assess ICU patients and plan enteral or parenteral nutrition with intensivists, setting calorie and protein targets and the pace of feed advancement.
- Run the nutrition screening process at admission and audit that high-risk patients receive a full assessment within 24 hours.
- Write and revise the diet manual covering standard and therapeutic diets such as diabetic, renal, cardiac, low-salt, soft and liquid diets.
- Allocate wards and OPD sessions among the dietitians and review their plans for complex cases.
- Agree diet codes, portion sizes and tray checks with the kitchen team, and resolve patient complaints about hospital food.
- Counsel OPD patients referred by endocrinology, nephrology, cardiology and bariatric surgery, and set their follow-up plans.
- Audit patient trays against diet orders every week and act on errors such as a regular dessert reaching a diabetic patient.
- Train nurses on feed preparation, tube feeding practice and the nutrition screening tool.
- Conduct diabetes and weight management education sessions and support corporate wellness events.
- Report nutrition quality indicators and take part in NABH audits of the food and nutrition service.
Requirements
- MSc in Clinical Nutrition, Food and Nutrition or Dietetics
- Registered Dietitian (RD) credential from the Indian Dietetic Association
- Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) is an advantage
- 5 to 8 years in hospital clinical nutrition, including ICU work
KRAs and KPIs for a Senior Dietitian
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| ICU nutrition | Nutrition plan written within 24 hours of ICU admission for 95 percent of patients |
| Admission screening | Nutrition screening done at admission for at least 95 percent of inpatients |
| Diet accuracy | Therapeutic diet errors below 1 percent of trays checked in weekly audits |
| OPD follow-up | Follow-up visit rate of 60 percent or more for OPD nutrition patients |
| Team supervision | Complex cases of every dietitian reviewed at least once a month |
| Patient satisfaction | Food and diet feedback score of 4 out of 5 or better |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Hospital information system (HIS) diet orders, Nutrient calculation software, Body composition analyser, Anthropometry kit and weighing scales, Enteral feed pump, MS Excel.
Reporting line and career path
Interview questions for a Senior Dietitian
- A ventilated patient weighs 70 kg. How do you set calorie and protein targets and start feeds?
- How would you plan meals for a dialysis patient who also has diabetes?
- The kitchen keeps sending regular trays to renal patients. How do you fix the process?
- Which screening tool would you use at admission, and why?
- How do you guide a junior dietitian whose diet plans are too generic?
- A patient refuses hospital food on day three. What do you do?
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What does a senior dietitian do in a hospital?
A senior dietitian plans nutrition for complex patients such as ICU, kidney and liver cases, supervises the ward and OPD dietitians, maintains the diet manual and screening process, works with the kitchen on diet accuracy and counsels referred outpatients. They also report nutrition indicators for NABH.
What is the difference between a dietitian and a senior dietitian?
A dietitian covers assigned wards and OPD, preparing diet plans and counselling patients. A senior dietitian takes the ICU and complex cases, supervises the dietitians, sets hospital diet protocols and the diet manual, audits tray accuracy with the kitchen and speaks for the nutrition service in quality meetings.
What qualifications does a senior dietitian need?
Hospitals usually ask for an MSc in clinical nutrition, food and nutrition or dietetics, 5 to 8 years of hospital experience including ICU nutrition, and the Registered Dietitian credential from the Indian Dietetic Association. A diabetes educator certificate helps in endocrine-heavy hospitals.