Career development as a Dietitian

Since May, I have been receiving several emails from young reader (this 2 months are the "season" for high school leavers to choose courses for their university) who wish to know more about the career path as a dietitian. They mostly need information about job scope, opportunities and market demand as a dietitian. Honestly speaking, the resources that explain the career of dietitian are limited especially when it comes to real work life sharing from a dietitian. Well, I wish to take this opportunity to explain it, but take note that my thought and information mostly regarding to the career development of a dietitian in my country Malaysia. I compile all question into few Q&A for readers to understand:

a) What is the scope of job for dietitian in Malaysia?
They are few kind of dietitians - Clinical dietitian (that's me, normally work in hospital), community dietitian, food service dietitian, research dietitian (R&D on the hidden usefulness of food) and business dietitian (Marketing but requires dietitian knowledge). 


b) Any advice how to become a good dietitian?
 It is really a need of interest, good communication skill and be patient in doing your job (You are not doctors or pharmacist, so sometimes not every patient or medical specialist will follow your order) . Besides providing dietary consultation, you may deal with some critical illness patient for feeding regime. It is actually quite challenging, critical thinking is a need and good conversation skill with patient (especially speak in different language with people from all sort of race). 


c) Is dietitian a lower class of medical professional?
There is no such thing as who is more important or non-important for medical professional from my opinion, a medical center needs various expertise of people to manage all patients and increase the level of healthcare industry.


d) I heard not every people aware of seeking consultation from a dietitian, so could it be a boring job?
This is very subjective, it depends on area and which type of hospitalization. Normally, government hospital has lots of patient and therefore the case refer from doctors to dietitian increase as well (you can get around 8 patients daily), private hospital is different, not every patient will be refer to dietitian and one main point is patients are not paying to see dietitian, some charges include in the hospitalization package. Once again, it depends on the size of your hospital and area too. If you are working in non-city and non-central hospital, yes, sometimes dietitian is quite free in office. Clinical dietitian needs to give talks to community or any special events once a while (probably once in a month), so it is not easy to become a clinical dietitian. 


e) How to become a successful dietitian?
I can only give opinion from a scope of a clinical dietitian, you can continue pursue study to obtain a phd degree and  get a title of Dr, based on your research knowledge and specific domain, you can get a very well recognizable profile in industry for certain knowledge. Business dietitian earns the most from my opinion (not to compare with a dietitian with phd degree), they sell products and get commission as well, but you need to have marketing skills too.


f) Is clinical dietitian job achieves lowest vacancy compare to other types? 
As mention, each hospital needs few dietitian only and that also applies to larger organization. You must know what kind of dietitian you want to be, work in a hospital/medical center or you have a better social skill which I suggest you to work as nutritionist or consultant. Working in a hospital requires great responsibility.


g) Is it frustrating when people do not listen to your medical advice?
This is a very common question I received. My answer would be no. You have try your best, leave the rest for the will of the patient whether they choose to follow or not. You must always be prepare and well study to provide good explanations in supporting your advice. That's the responsibility.

h) Is it dietitian getting a low paid and appreciation in Malaysia?
This is a tricky question. It depends on whether you value your job most or your paid first. Business dietitian (for example, consultant that sells healthcare package) receives low basic paid too when entering the field, but with hard work and experience, they are gaining the most plus the experience working with hospital party and community side. The entry paid for dietitian in different countries are almost similar except you might take into account of currency.


i) In short, what is the advice for fresh nutrition/dietitian student?
Your path may varies on the road of your studying in degree and you may not know what will you end up after graduate, so my advice is plan well on your study, read more on medical professionals research work, and you will get a clearer picture of what you want to end up in. For me, I didn't really look on salary and burden of work when I join as clinical dietitian. I took a helpful and caring heart to dive into this area than anything.

I am welcome for any dietitian to share with me their career path and their thought of a job as a dietitian/nutritionist. Cheers.