Dietitian

Carolinas Medical Center; United States; On-site; USD 42,000 - 63,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits Eligible

Job summary

Aurora Sinai Medical Center - Food and Nutrition is seeking a full-time Clinical Dietitian to provide Medical Nutrition Therapy to inpatients and outpatients, including nutrition assessments, care planning, and documentation in the EMR.

The role requires adapting daily workflows to patient census, coordinating with physicians, pharmacy, and nutrition teams, and ensuring diet orders and nutrition interventions support patient outcomes and compliance with regulatory standards.

Responsibilities

• Provides ongoing Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) for inpatients and outpatients.
• Prescribes enteral and parenteral nutrition and adjusts regimens.
• Writes nutrition orders, monitors tolerance, and coordinates with care teams.
• Develops patient-specific menus and considers dietary restrictions and preferences.
• Identifies and treats malnutrition through focused assessments and documentation.
• Documents GMCS elements and supports QA, safety, and regulatory readiness.
• Precepts students and collaborates with didactic programs and residents.

Job description

Department:

11903 Aurora Sinai Medical Center - Food and Nutrition

Status:

Full time

Benefits Eligible:

Yes

Hours Per Week:

40

Schedule Details/Additional Information:

Monday through Friday with rotating weekends and holidays.

Pay Range:

$30.70 - $46.05

Major Responsibilities

• Daily, provides ongoing Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) care for entire hospital inpatient census, through screening, prioritizing, assessing, and recommending interventions. Adapts daily workflow to accommodate fluctuations in patient load due to daily census variations, consults, acuity, staffing challenges. Develops and implements a plan of care for patients based on an expert assessment of life cycle- and diagnosis-specific nutritional needs. Assessment includes reviews of medical history and laboratory data, patient interviews, and physical examinations to determine the current nutritional status of inpatients and/or outpatients. Based on the assessment, the Clinical Dietitian develops and implements individualized nutrition plan of care interventions. Documents medical nutrition therapy plan of care in the electronic medical record supporting system clinical documentation and coding standards to maximize reimbursement rates.


• Prescribes enteral and parenteral nutrition support orders by assessing the patient and calculating macronutrients and/or micronutrients, fluid, and electrolytes. Evaluates patient tolerance and effectiveness of formulas and manages initiation or modifications to enteral/parenteral regimen orders. The Clinical Dietitian demonstrates extensive knowledge of specialized nutrition support (parenteral and enteral) and triages issues and concerns through collaboration with physicians and pharmacy. Constant, secure communication with system level Pharmacy Integrated Clinical Services (PICS) team to manage and order Total Parental Nutrition (TPN) infusions for critically ill patients in the hospital.


• The Clinical Dietitian prescribes orders for therapeutic diets, oral nutrition supplements, and nutrition support regimens, including vitamins/minerals, fluid management, and lab work as indicated within the scope of the Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) protocol. Utilizes order-writing privileges to implement nutrition related orders. Collaborates with Food and Nutrition patient services team to ensure patient intake aligns with nutrition prescription and interdisciplinary plan of care. Partners with site patient services team to identify and recommend appropriate clinical nutrition formula and supplement substitutions during supply chain disruptions to reduce and eliminate significant disruptions to patient care. Partners with physicians, nursing, and nutrition patient services to ensure diet restrictions, allergy restrictions, supplement preferences and tube feedings are consistent with patient needs and personal, religious, and cultural preferences. Develops patient-specific menus for patients admitted with complex dietary needs (e.g., multiple food allergies, numerous diet restrictions, and/or low-use, high risk diet orders).


• Leads efforts to identify, treat and prevent malnutrition. Performs Nutrition Focused Physical Examinations of high-risk patients to evaluate the loss of specific muscles and subcutaneous body fat to determine the presence of and degree of malnutrition. Communicates findings to the medical team through medical record documentation to ensure maximized reimbursement. Provides medical nutrition therapy education to patients identified with moderate or severe malnutrition to improve patient outcomes and to positively impact inpatient readmission rates.


• Routinely documents elements of the Global Malnutrition Composite Score (GMCS) for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Nutrition Electronic Quality Indicators. Participates in Quality Assessment Performance Improvement (QAPI) efforts to ensure nutrition care is safe and effective for patients. Maintains regulatory readiness. Supports department clinical initiatives to ensure compliance with safety initiatives, policies, and procedures, DNV regulations, and department standards.


• Identifies and documents billable nutrition diagnosis with supporting documentation. May provide clinical support to various hospital-based outpatient medical destination programs (e.g., cancer center, transplant clinic, digestive health programs, bariatric, cardiac rehab, heart failure, etc.) Enters charges for outpatient nutrition charge capture in electronic medical record.


• Supports partnerships with local didactic programs by precepting dietetic graduate students in clinical nutrition and/or foodservice management. Directs and monitors interns' progress both daily and at designated touchpoints and provides feedback for growth and development. Communicates regularly with didactic program coordinator. Also, precepts medical residents and provides nutrition orientation as applicable. Provides nutrition lectures to medical residents for internal medicine, trauma, N