Job Description

Exalt Health, an acute rehabilitation hospital, provides an intensive rehabilitation program, and admitted patients must be able to tolerate three hours of intense rehabilitation services per day. Focused on caring for patients with complex rehabilitative needs such as stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury, head trauma, medically debilitation conditions, neurological disorders, cardio-pulmonary amputations, orthopedic injuries, and multiple major traumas.

The Registered Dietitian is an integral part of the interdisciplinary care team at our inpatient rehabilitation hospital. This role provides essential nutritional care to patients recovering from various injuries, illnesses, and surgeries. The dietitian collaborates with medical staff to develop specialized nutrition plans, educates patients and their families on healthy eating habits, and helps patients achieve optimal health outcomes during their rehabilitation journey.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Patient Assessment Conduct thorough nutritional assessments, analyzing medical histories, laboratory values, and current dietary habits. Identify nutritional deficiencies and risk factors.
• Personalized Nutrition Plans Develop and implement individualized nutrition care plans tailored to each patient's specific needs, goals, and health conditions. Consider cultural preferences and food allergies.
• Nutrition Education Provide evidence-based nutrition counseling and education to patients and their families. Topics might include managing chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes, heart disease), weight management, food allergies, and adapting to modified diets.
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration Work closely with physicians, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and other healthcare professionals to create a comprehensive and integrated treatment plan for each patient.
• Documentation and Reporting Maintain accurate and timely documentation of nutritional assessments, interventions, and patient progress in the electronic medical record (EMR) system.
• Regulatory Compliance Adhere to all federal, state, and local regulations governing healthcare and nutrition services in Texas. Stay updated with changing guidelines.

Requirements

Licenses or Certifications

• Current, unencumbered licenses are required based on educational training Registered Dietitian (RD) or Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition, Dietetics, or a closely related field. Master's degree preferred.

Education, Training, and Experience

• A minimum of 1-2 years of experience working as a registered dietitian in a clinical setting, with experience in a rehabilitation hospital setting, is highly desirable.

Skills and Abilities, Proficiency and Productivity Standards

• Organizes and prioritizes tasks and projects, accurately completing job responsibilities within the specified time constraints.
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
• Analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to work under deadlines and handle multiple tasks.
• Speaks and communicates English effectively in verbal and written format; writes legibly.
• Reading and comprehension at the level necessary to perform job duties appropriately.
• Works cooperatively with co-workers and other hospital employees
• Functions proficiently in a Microsoft Windows environment (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)