A renal dietitian’s job is to help people who have kidney disease or other kidney complications. Basically, this job entails advising patients on how to improve their liver function through dietary changes. These people are usually employed healthcare facilities or run their own practice. Dietitians with a bachelor’s degree in foods and nutrition are the most common, and private practice owners are frequently licensed. A renal dietitian’s responsibilities typically include consulting with patients, assessing patients’ dietary intake, proposing dietary changes, monitoring progress, and maintaining patient records.
An initial consultation with a renal dietitian is usually the first stage of each patient’s treatment. He will meet with a patient during this time to discuss issues such as the severity of kidney complications, current diet, and exercise habits. A renal dietitian must gather as much information as possible and have a thorough understanding of a patient’s health habits before making recommendations. Because this job requires a lot of patient interaction, it’s beneficial to have strong interpersonal skills and the ability to establish rapport with a wide range of patients.
A renal dietitian will assess a patient’s dietary intake after gathering some background information. He might conclude, for example, that a patient is eating too many processed foods and not enough vegetables. Aside from that, he might conclude that a patient is eating too much food at meals or isn’t getting enough exercise.
The renal dietitian will usually recommend certain dietary changes for a patient after completing an assessment. Because his goal is to improve kidney function, he frequently recommends potassium, calcium, and phosphorus-rich foods. In addition, he may advise a patient to begin taking certain vitamins to help the liver. He may also provide educational materials on how to treat kidney disease to a patient.
A renal dietitian will also frequently monitor the patient’s progress while making dietary changes. This could entail meeting with a patient once or twice a week to discuss how they are feeling. If a patient’s progress is good, a renal dietitian will probably keep them on their current diet. Otherwise, he might make minor adjustments.
A person in this position will also be in charge of keeping track of patient records. He will usually keep track of each patient’s name, contact information, previous medical records, dietary changes, and results, for example. This information can be useful for future reference and can help to improve patient care quality.