Therese Perez

• Client-facing responsibilities
• Assessment: Conduct initial consultations with clients to understand their nutritional needs, lifestyle, health history, goals, and food preferences.
• Counseling: Provide one-on-one nutrition counseling and education on healthy eating habits, food preparation, and the principles of nutrition science.
• Meal planning: Create custom nutrition and meal plans tailored to an individual's goals, budget, and lifestyle.
• Monitoring and evaluation: Track a client's progress, provide ongoing support, and adjust nutrition plans as needed.
• Group education: Develop and lead workshops, seminars, or webinars for corporate wellness programs, athletic teams, or community groups.
• Content creation: Produce educational materials, such as articles, recipes, and blog posts, for clients or the public.

Core responsibilities include:

• Patient Preparation: Escorting patients to treatment stations, weighing them to assess fluid gains, and recording pre- and post-dialysis vital signs (blood pressure, temperature.
• Cannulation: Inserting needles and initiating, monitoring, and discontinuing hemodialysis treatments.
• Equipment Management: Setting up, maintaining, troubleshooting, and sterilizing dialysis machines and water systems.
• Treatment Monitoring: Observing patients throughout their 3- to 4-hour sessions, tracking fluid removal, evaluating treatment progress, and responding to machine alarms.
• Documentation & Specimen Collection: Accurately logging all observations and machine settings. PCTs also draw blood and prepare samples for lab testing.
• Patient Education: Teaching patients about kidney health, treatment protocols, and how to identify complications.

• Patient Care
• Nutritional assessment: Conducting regular nutritional assessments to evaluate a patient's health status, including their knowledge of kidney-friendly diets. Created and monitored tailored nutrition plans for kidney disease patients, assessed their health requirements, educated them on dietary guidelines, and modified meal plans according to lab results and other health indicators such as weight and fluid balance.
• Diet plan development: Creating individualized diet plans that specify nutrient goals, including recommendations for protein, calories, potassium, sodium, and phosphorus.
• Patient and family education: Providing detailed education on the relationship between diet, kidney disease, and lab results, including guidance on fluid intake, food choices, reading labels, and meal preparation.
• Monitoring and adjustments: Monitoring patients' lab work, weight, and other health markers to assess the effectiveness of the diet plan and adjustments as needed.
• Collaboration: Working closely with the interdisciplinary care team, including physicians and nurses, to coordinate care and ensure the patient is meeting nutritional and therapeutic goals.
• Support and counseling: Offering support, encouragement, and counseling to help patients overcome challenges and make Documentation: Completing progress notes, nutritional assessments, and other required documentation.
• Staff Relief Rotation Obligation: Managing medical nutrition therapy to cover a permanent staff dietitian's responsibility as a relief dietitian.

• Nutrition Education and Program Development
• Creating and delivering nutrition education programs and counseling to individuals and groups.
• Developing culturally relevant educational materials and resources.
• Translating complex nutritional science into practical, easy-to-understand advice.
• Community Program and Partnership Support:
• Coaching partner agencies on nutrition strategies and implementing Policy, System, and Environmental (PSE) changes.
• Supporting the organization and delivery of community programs like the SNAP-Ed activities.
• Building relationships with community partners to advance the food bank's mission.
• Food Service and Operations Support:
• Assisting with program coordination and material management.
• Conducting audits and surveys to assess program effectiveness and client satisfaction.
• Helping with tasks like recipe standardization and food production, as described in this overview of food service management roles.
• Assessment and Strategy:
• Assessing the nutritional needs of clients in the community.
• Providing expert direction on healthy eating strategies for the emergency and supplemental food system.
• Contributing to the overall strategy for improving nutrition within the food bank's network.

• Patient care and nutrition
• Assess and treat: Evaluating patients' nutritional status, developing nutrition care plans, and providing nutrition education and counseling to patients and their families.
• Collaborate: Working with physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers to coordinate patient care and adjust nutrition plans based on changes in health status.
• Document: Documenting patient encounters, diet orders, and progress in the electronic health record.
• Educate: Instructing patients on how to follow therapeutic diets after discharge.
• Food Service Management
• Oversee operations: Managing the day-to-day operations of the food service department, including purchasing, inventory, and sanitation.
• Menu planning: Developing and evaluating menus for patients and staff, ensuring nutritional adequacy and incorporating patient preferences and dietary restrictions.
• Ensure quality: Implementing and enforcing policies and procedures for food purchasing, preparation, storage, and service.
• Safety and sanitation: Maintaining a safe and sanitary environment, overseeing equipment maintenance, and ensuring compliance with food safety standards.
• Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP): Auditing the hospital's HACCP plan, which is a system for identifying, monitoring, and controlling critical food safety hazards.
• Staff and administrative support
• Train staff: Providing training and development for food service personnel, including dietary aides.
• Support programs: Assisting with menu and food production for special events, like catering.
• Improve service: Monitoring client satisfaction and may introduce program innovations or customer service training.
• Food Auditing: Ensuring all food service activities comply with federal, state, and local regulations, such as FDA's Food Code and specific healthcare standards.

• Patient assessment and planning
• Shadowing Dietitians
• Medical nutrition therapy: Assessing patients' nutritional needs and developed, implemented, and monitored nutrition care plans.
• Conducting initial consultations with patients to collect information on their medical history, food intake, and preferences.
• Conducting thorough nutrition assessments, using medical history, lab results, medication lists, and physical exams.
• Screening patients for nutritional risk and calculating individual nutrient needs (calories, protein, etc.).
• Developing and monitoring personalized nutrition care plans, including medical nutrition therapy.
• Determining and initiating appropriate diet orders, including enteral or parenteral nutrition if needed.
• Patient and family education
• Providing individual and group nutrition counseling to patients and their families.
• Educating patients on diet principles, restrictions, and therapeutic diets for managing their health conditions.
• Assessing patients' knowledge, readiness to learn, and potential for behavior change.
• Healthcare team collaboration and coordination
• Participating in healthcare team meetings and rounds, communicating patient/family nutritional needs to other providers.
• Collaborating with nurses, physicians, and pharmacists to ensure comprehensive and coordinated care.
• Participating in discharge planning to ensure the patient has a follow-up nutrition plan.
• Documentation and quality assurance
• Documenting all assessments, care plans, and patient interactions in the medical record.
• Communicating findings and recommendations to the appropriate healthcare providers.
• Inspecting food service to ensure patient meals meet dietary requirements.
• Providing current research and translated nutrition science into practical advice to patients and family members.
• Staff Relief
• Administering medical nutrition therapy, providing coverage for a permanent staff dietitian, and fulfilling core responsibilities in the role of a relief dietitian.

• Patient education and counseling
• Providing one-on-one nutrition counseling and education for patients with diabetes (type 1, type 2, and gestational).
• Teaching healthy eating habits, including meal planning, portion control, and reading food labels.
• Educating on specific skills like carbohydrate counting.
• Helping patients understand how their food choices affect blood sugar levels.
• Promoting healthy coping mechanisms and lifestyle changes related to diet and activity.
• Treatment and management planning
• Develop individualized meal plans that consider patient preferences, budget, and health goals, such as weight management.
• Assisting in setting and achieving blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol goals.
• Interpreting blood glucose and other lab results to make recommendations for dietary adjustments.
• Work with patients to manage sick days and other challenges.
• Coordinating care with other members of the diabetes care team, such as physicians and certified diabetes care and education specialists (CDCES).
• Conducting regular follow-up appointments to assess progress and adjust meal plans as needed.
• Monitoring and follow-up
• Monitoring the effectiveness of the nutrition plan and make necessary changes.
• Documenting patient progress and maintain records.
• Program development and other duties
• Contributing professional expertise to the diabetes care team.
• Helping to develop, coordinate, and manage diabetes education programs.
• Participating in mandatory hospital training and community health events.