Development of Job Description of Clinical Dietitians in Hospitals by the DACUM Method.
- Author:
Jin A CHA
1
;
Kang Eun KIM
;
Eun Mi KIM
;
Mi Sun PARK
;
Yoo Kyoung PARK
;
Hee Joon BAEK
;
Song Mi LEE
;
Soo Kyong CHOI
;
Jung Sook SEO
Author Information
1. Department of Korean Cuisine, Jeonju University, Jeonju 560-759, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
job description;
DACUM;
clinical dietitian;
duty;
task;
task elements;
grid analysis
- MeSH:
Curriculum;
Hospitals, General;
Job Description;
Nutrition Assessment
- From:Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
2013;19(3):265-286
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
The present study was conducted to develop a standardized job description for clinical dietitians working in hospitals. A developing curriculum (DACUM) method was used for the job analysis of clinical dietitians. Based on DACUM analysis with 14 members, including clinical dietitians and professors majoring in clinical nutrition and job analysis, information on the duties, tasks, and task elements of clinical dietitians was determined. To verify the job descriptions derived from DACUM analysis, a total of 46 tertiary and general hospitals with over 500 beds were recruited for the survey. The final developed job description for clinical dietitians included 7 duties, 27 tasks, and 93 task elements. The duties consisted of nutritional assessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention, nutrition monitoring.evaluation, consultation.cooperation, nutrition research, and self-development. The mean scores of perceived importance, performance, and difficulty on the clinical dietitian's task elements (out of a maximum score of 5.0) were 4.5, 3.7, and 3.5, respectively, with significant differences between the items (P<0.001). The perceived importance and performance grid of clinical dietitian's tasks showed that "construction and maintenance of collaboration" (E2) and "activity of quality improvement" (F1) received relatively low scores for performance despite their high importance scores; thus the performance of these tasks requires significant improvement. In conclusion, the job descriptions of clinical dietitians developed from this study are useful for the qualitative improvement of clinical nutrition services in hospitals.
