Clinical Activity Patterns of Dietetic Technicians Working in a Health-Medical Care Setting

Abstract

A national survey was conducted to identify and differentiate activities performed by dietetic technicians and to identify selected dietetic technician perceptions. A three part (activity, perceptual, demographic) questionnaire was developed and mailed to 596 randomly selected dietetic technician members of the American Dietetic Association. Three hundred sixty-eight questionnaires were returned for a total response rate of 62 percent. The most frequently performed activities were obtaining food preferences/diet histories, documenting in the medical record, screening patients for nutritional risk and adjusting diet orders. Factor analysis revealed four activity factors/postures assumed by dietetic technicians: diet-tray oriented, diet-menu oriented, physician-dietitian oriented and case oriented. Comparison to clinical nutrition support dietitians revealed an interface/overlap of dietetic technician and clinical dietitian activities, with the majority of technicians and dietitians performing physician oriented activities. Findings from this study indicate that the dietetic technician is acculturating toward postures and activities formerly and currently assumed by clinical dietitians. It is conceivable that the evolving activities of dietetic technicians may motivate the advancement of clinical dietitians toward their yet-to-be-attained dietetic specific diagnosis and research orientation.