The Clinical Dietician supports the facility's mission and coordinates nutritional care with other health care providers, the veteran, the veteran's caregiver and the community. This position will serve as the medical nutrition expert within the Clinical Section of Nutrition and Food Services (NFS). The Clinical Dietitian is autonomous in their work in applying evidenced-based nutrition guidelines for all patients, including those with complex medical & nutritional needs.

Duties

Serves as a professional and technical advisor to staff and other health care professionals. Develops and leads clinical nutrition operations. Represents the Clinical Nutrition Section on projects, committees and/or workgroups within the department and facility. Assumes full responsibility for planning, directing and assessing the work and competence of subordinate staff. Collaborates with other managers in the medical center to negotiate and/or make decisions on NFS related matters affecting clinical operations. Provides Clinical Nutrition Section specific leadership and exercises a full range of supervisory and personnel management authorities and responsibilities. Develops procedures and guidelines for clinical operations and monitors compliance with regulatory standards and policies and procedures. Participates in performance improvement efforts within Clinical Nutrition section acting on quality improvement data and plans. Identifies and prioritized problems, sets long and short term goals, identifies action plans for the clinical section and nutrition programs. Build and implements contingency plans within the section, ensuring continuity of clinical operations in all internal and external emergency situations. Executes the training plan for the clinical section and ensures staff remain up to date on advances and changes in medical nutrition therapy. Orients and trains employees related to clinical nutrition and appropriate policies and procedures. Assists with employee onboarding. Ensures that materials utilized in Veteran education are evidence-based, using current literature and research. Analyses data (i.e., event capture, clinic utilization) to recommend allocation of clinical nutrition resources. Ensures evidence-based guidelines are integrated into clinical practice. Ensures Veteran education materials are written with based on evidence-based guidelines, current literature, practice, and research. Collaborates with the food operations staff, bridging the work of the clinical nutrition staff to the food services provided to Veterans. Collaborates closely with the supervisory dietitians to cover the work in all NFS and execute the activities of the department. May perform other related duties as assigned which are appropriate for this grade and assignment. Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm, Monday - Friday Compressed/Flexible:NotAuthorized Telework: Available per needs of the service, Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: PD99517S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) or Registered Dietitian (RD) - Must be registered with the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) the credentialing branch of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics formerly known as the American Dietetic Association (ADA). Exception for Dietitians who do not possess the RDN credential. Non-credentialed Dietitians who meet the basic qualification requirements and have fulfilled the requirements below, but do not possess the RDN credential, may be given a temporary full-time appointment not to exceed one year under the authority of 38 U.S.C. § 7405(c)(2) Non-credentialed Dietitians must have fulfilled each of the following: Earned a bachelor's or higher degree from a U.S. regionally accredited college, university or foreign equivalent (refer to ii below). Completed an ACEND® accredited experiential or supervised practice program and provide a verification statement from the program director that conveys eligibility to take the CDR registration exam as a prospective RDN. A list of ACEND® accredited programs is located on the ACEND® website or at ACEND Accredited Programs Directory. Foreign Education. To be creditable, college and/or university degrees earned outside the U.S and its territories must be evaluated by ACEND® and meet ACEND®'s International Dietitian Education standards which are designed to provide graduates with the knowledge and competencies to sit for the CDR credentialing exam. Non-credentialed Dietitians may only be appointed at the GS-07 or GS-09 grade level and may not be promoted/converted until they obtain their RDN credential. Non-credentialed Dietitians must provide care under the supervision of a RDN at or above the full performance level. Temporary appointments of non-credentialed Dietitian will not be extended beyond one year or converted to a new temporary appointment. Failure to Obtain Registration. In all cases, Dietitians must actively pursue meeting registration requirements starting from their appointment date. At the time of appointment, servicing Human Resources (HR) staff in collaboration with the supervisor, will provide non-registered Dietitians the written requirement to obtain registration, the date by which they must acquire it and the consequences for not doing so by the deadline. Failure to obtain registration within one year from the date of appointment will result in removal from the Dietitian, GS-0630 occupation and may result in termination of employment. Loss of Credential. In collaboration with HR Office staff, management officials must immediately relieve employees who fail to maintain the required registration/certification of duties and responsibilities associated with the occupation and/or assignment, which may also result in separation from employment. English Language Proficiency. Dietitian candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Current VHA Dietitians that qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision may not be promoted to a higher grade if they do not meet the current RDN/RD requirements. Grade Determinations: GS-13, Supervisory Dietitian (Food Operations) Preferred Experience: (1) Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level. (2) Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: (a) Skill in written communication including policy development and standard operating procedures. (b) Skill in strategic planning to develop goals, objectives and action plans. (c) Skill in analyzing data to monitor progress towards improving and sustaining outcomes. (d) Ability to negotiate. (e) Ability to supervise subordinate staff (i.e., plan, organize, delegate, direct, control and review activities and performance). References: VA Handbook 5005 Part II Appendix G20 Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement examination is not required.

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

ACEND accredited programs are located on the ACEND website or at ACEND Accredited Programs Directory.

Contacts

• Address VA Maryland Health Care System 10 North Greene Street Baltimore, MD 21201 US
• Name: Larry Choice
• Phone: (410) 691-0609
• Email: [email protected]