Utilization of the clinical dietetic technician

The changing role of the clinical dietitian has resulted in evaluation of the clinical dietetic technician's role. The American Dietetic Association (ADA) has recognized that effective utilization of the dietetic technician will allow continued growth of the dietitian. In 1981, the ADA published Role Delineation for Entry-Level Clinical Dietetics, including responsibilities for the clinical dietetic technician. A revised role delineation which included verification of actual role performance to the defined role was published by the ADA in 1984, subsequent to the completion of this research report. This research was conducted to verify the degree to which clinical dietetic technicians were performing tasks identified for their role, to identify educational deficiencies and/or excesses, and to analyze demographic and other descriptive data obtained. Telephone and mail questionnaires were used to obtain data from dietetic technicians selected by systematic sampling from the ADA listing of 914 technician members. Responsibilities outlined in the ADA role delineation study were the basis for the tasks utilized in the survey of the clinical dietetic technicians' performance and training. The mean percentage of tasks performed indicated agreement between the defined role and actual performance of clinical dietetic technicians.