A dietitian assistant is a food-related healthcare worker who assists dieticians in providing meals, snacks, and nutritional advice to patients, students, and residents. Hospitals, nursing homes, schools, universities, and prisons employ the majority of these workers. A dietitian assistant either directly supervises cooks and primary food service workers — or assists them in their work — depending on the size of the organization, to ensure that the meals prepared adhere to the menu, budget, and nutritional requirements established by the supervising dietician. A high school diploma and some on-the-job training were once all that was required to work as a dietitian assistant. However, as many healthcare careers have become more professionalized, the minimum education required to enter this field has risen to an associate’s degree in nutrition, food service, dietitian science, or a related field.
As previously stated, an associate’s degree in dietitian science or nutrition is now required to work as a dietitian assistant in the United States. This minimum educational requirement was recently established by the American Dietetic Association. Despite these requirements, about a third of working dietitian assistants do not have a high school diploma, and about the same percentage do not have a high school diploma. The remaining dietitian assistants have earned bachelor’s degrees in the field, in addition to the American Dietetic Association’s minimum requirements for becoming a dietitian assistant. This professional organization can provide a list of accredited associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs to prospective students.
Another professional goal for people who want to work as a dietitian assistant has been established by the American Dietetic Association. Although most employers do not require it, the professional association is pushing hard for individuals who want to work as a dietitian assistant to pass a written exam created and administered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). The uniform application of this examination across the United States would give this profession a higher level of professionalism. This positive step, however, could be countered by dietitian assistants’ demands for higher wages due to the higher educational requirements for the job.
Individuals who wish to become a dietitian assistant must also complete annual continuing education (CE) units in order to maintain active registration in the professional organization, according to The American Dietetic Association. “Dietitian Assistants, Registered” refers to current dietitian assistants who have completed a bachelor’s degree in the field and passed a written examination. These people represent the objectives of professional certification for a dietitian assistant’s career.