A survery of the dietian's role in long-term care

A study was conducted on the role functions of nursing home dietitians in New York State to ascertain and compare levels of agreement among dietitians and administrators on role performance. Role functions for dietitians practicing in this setting were developed by a panel of experts and three questionnaires were used to measure role perceptions by 125 dietary consultants, 200 full-time dietitians, and 210 administrators. Forty-seven role functions were categorized to determine how dietitians allocated their time to six major role segments: diet therapy and counseling, education and training, interdepartmental communications, interpretation and evaluation, nutrition assessment, and organization and management. All three groups indicated the dietitian's role to be primarily a clinical one.