Dietician - Dietician - Occupation

Dietician

Dieticians primarily carry out the medically prescribed nutritional therapy for sick or suspicious people. Nutritional medicine therapy includes, among other things, the creation of a therapy plan tailored to the patient's individual needs, including nutritional history and the assessment of the nutritional status, advice and training for the patient and their relatives, and the evaluation of the therapy.

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• Official job title
• Tasks and work areas
• Solid education
• How are the costs going to be covered?
• Informative links
• Legal basis

Official job title

Dietician (formerly a dietician). The umbrella term is dietological service.

Tasks and work areas

The dietician can record health problems, identify nutritional-relevant information from existing findings and, if necessary, consult the doctors. The care includes, for example, people with metabolic diseases such as diabetes and increased blood lipid levels, pathological overweight (obesity), kidney diseases, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, food intolerance and even cancer. Dieticians are also active in the field of prophylaxis (prevention). This also includes advising healthy people, for example on pregnancy, weight reduction or exercise. In addition, dieticians also take on activities in the food industry,the food and pharmaceutical industries as well as general catering management (e.g. catering, large kitchens). They provide advice to a wide range of facilities (hospitals, nursing homes, health resorts, companies, etc.) and develop menus and / or calculate nutrient, vitamin and mineral content of meals and provide instructions and supervision of preparation.

Where do dieticians work?

Dieticians work, for example, in hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, spa facilities, health and spa hotels and wellness establishments or in the food and pharmaceutical industries as well as in research, science and teaching. You can work in an employment relationship or as a freelancer.

Solid education

The training lasts six semesters and takes place at universities of applied sciences (degree in dietology). It concludes with a Bachelor of Science in Health Studies (BSc) degree. In order to be constantly up to date, dieticians have to undergo regular further training.

The compulsory registration for dieticians in the health professions register has been in effect since July 2018.

How are the costs going to be covered?

In the hospital

If you are cared for by a dietician while you are in hospital, the costs are covered. For more information, see Hospitalization.

During a rehabilitation or spa stay

If you are cared for by a dietician during a spa stay approved by your social security agency, the costs are covered. The insured person has to pay an income-related additional payment for rehabilitation and spa stays. You can find more information on this on the website of the umbrella organization for Austrian social insurance You can find interesting information about the spa stay and the associated costs under Rehabilitation and spa stay.

Offers from the health insurance companies

Some of the health insurance providers offer nutritional and diet advice. The requirements for using this consulting service and assuming the costs are different. Sometimes a doctor's prescription is required. For more information and contact addresses, see Nutrition: Advice and Help.

In the resident area

If you contact a freelance dietician on your own initiative, you will have to bear the costs yourself. There is no reimbursement of costs or grants from health insurance providers.

Informative links

• Brochure health professions in Austria from the BMSGPK.
• Information on health professions on the BMSGPK website.
• Website of the Association of Diaetologists Austria.
• Website of the umbrella organization for upscale medical-technical services.

Legal basis

You can find relevant laws in the Legal Information System (RIS):

• MTD Law, Federal Law Gazette No. 460/1992, as amended
• FH-MTD Training Ordinance, Federal Law Gazette II No. 2/2006, as amended
• University of Applied Sciences Studies Act, Federal Law Gazette No. 340/1993, as amended
• Health Professions Register Act, Federal Law Gazette I No. 87/2016, as amended