As a dietician, you are primarily responsible for providing nutritional advice. This also includes creating diets for patients with different diseases .
Personal requirements at work
As a dietitian, it is important to be interested in the different foods that the market offers, but also to critically question their contents. The task is to support the patient with different diets and nutritional changes and to provide them with the best possible information. And it is particularly important to inform the patient about the pitfalls of the food industry. Food products are often advertised as healthy, but are still not suitable for the patient. The dietician should also have a high degree of empathy and patience. This is particularly important when dealing with older people, as in some cases they need comprehensive nutritional advice, starting with the most basic things. This is mostly due to the fact that the older people are from the wartime generation, which did not grow up with a healthy and balanced diet and therefore does not master it either.
Training
In order to be admitted to a state school for dietitians, you must have a technical college entrance qualification or equivalent training. Another ten-year school education that expands on the lower secondary school certificate or an education of at least two years duration that took place after the lower secondary school certificate is also permitted. The training takes place at a state vocational school and concludes with an oral, a written and a practical test. After passing the exam, you are entitled to call yourself a state-certified dietician. The duration of the training is 3 years .
training content
The main focus of the subjects during the training is dietetics. Dietetics takes up around 1000 hours out of a total of 4450 hours of study. 3050 hours of theoretical instruction, 1400 hours of practical instruction.
locations
Dieticians are mostly employed in clinics and rehabilitation facilities. However, it is becoming more and more common for dieticians to practice their profession in established medical practices or even independently. It is also possible to be hired by a health insurance company.
career development opportunities
Dietitians have many opportunities to continue their education in their profession and thus to occupy higher positions or positions with other focal points. For example, there is the possibility of further training in the field of obesity therapy or gastroenterology. Various seminars can also be attended in order to further educate yourself as a dietician in many areas and always be up to date with the latest scientific developments. This is particularly important because this is the only way they can ensure that their patients are always provided with the latest nutritional science.
Daily life of the dietician
Everyday work consists primarily of advising and educating his patients on questions relating to food and nutrition. They draw up nutrition plans, discuss them with their patients and help them
(Image source: Federal Employment Agency)
