• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.100-113
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• 2009

This research aims to examine the experiences of hospital dietitians' burnout and the factors of their burnout, such as demographic factors, unique characteristics of hospitals, their self-respect, and organizational factors. In order for this, a questionnaire survey was conducted with hospital dietitians working in general hospitals of over 400 beds in the Seoul Metropolitan area. The average point of self-respect of dietitians is 3.67 out of 5.00. Their experience of burnout turned out to be 3.17 out of 7, the extent of job satisfaction is high, that is 3.35 out of 5.00. The decrease of personal accomplishment is shown to be closely related to the burnout of dietitians. The emotional exhaustion in burnout at the significant level 0.001 is increasing as the annual gross salary is low, their age is young, extra-working hours are long, and is high to the dietitians serving meals and working at entrusted companies. The factors affected by burnout experience vary with individual circumstances. So, to prevent the emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment, hospital dietitians' spiritual and physical health needs to be kept up by their self-development and investment.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Competent renal dietitians are crucial for better patient compliance and clinical outcomes, specifically in critical settings. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an evidence-based course in renal dietetics for dietitians working in health care systems where dietetic specialization is absent. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Fifteen licensed dietitians working with hemodialysis patients in Lebanon were randomly recruited to participate in the course. The latter was developed by the study's primary investigator, according to evidence-based practice guidelines, and focused on all aspects of renal nutrition. Total course duration was 28 hours spread over a 2 month period. Dietitians' knowledge in renal nutrition was tested pre- and post-training through a 23-item questionnaire; the total score was expressed in percentage (< 60% score indicated insufficient knowledge). Paired-samples t test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Overall knowledge of the dietitians significantly improved post-training and reached satisfactory levels (pre: $38.75{\pm}17.20%$, post: $62.08{\pm}21.85%$). Sub-analysis of the change in the knowledge showed significant and satisfactory improvement only in 3 topics: 1) correct body weight use in calculations, 2) energy estimation method and 3) phosphorus management. Knowledge in the fluid management significantly improved but did not achieve a satisfactory level. CONCLUSION: The course significantly improved dietitians' knowledge in renal nutrition. If adopted as part of the continuing education of dietitians in countries that lack dietetic specializations, it may serve the first step towards improving health care practice.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.248-258
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• 2003

This study was conducted to identify dietitians' position and role by assessing the present condition on management of human resources in contracted foodservice management company. Questionnaires were distributed to 79 contracted companies (eight large-size, 48 mid-size, 23 small-size companies) from March to May in 2002. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSSwin (version 8.0). The data were analyzed in group comparisons using frequencies and percentage for every item in the questionnaires, $x^2$-test, and oneway ANOVA. About eighty-five percent of contracted foodservice companies employed the new dietitians as full time employees, and seventy-five percent of them were promoted the dietitians by evaluation after a given period of time. As a starting payment for university graduates, large-size companies payed an average of 16,260,000 won/year, which was significantly higher (p<0.01) than those of mid-sized (11,320,000 won/year) and small-sized companies (11,620,000 won/year). The mean lengths of dietitians' service were 33.5 months in large-size companies, 26.5 months in mid-sized companies, 26.0 months in small-sized companies. It was less than 3 years in all companies (avg. 26.9 months). Fifty-four companies (68.4%) employed dietitians in each foodservice contract, whereas 25 companies didn't employ dietitians. The ratios of dietitians out of employees in each department of the companies were 42.6% in the department of contracted foodservice management, 19.9% in the department of menu development, 18.1% in the department of food safety, 8.7% in the department of distribution and purchase, 4.2% in the department of business, and 3.9% in the department of customer satisfaction. The dietitians' positions were directors in two companies (2.5%), general managers in two companies (2.5%), deputy managers in seven companies (8.9%), managers in twenty-nine companies (36.7%), assistant managers/chief clerks in twenty-four companies (30.4%), and chiefs in twenty-five companies (31.6%). The frequencies of training for dietitians were 6.2 times/year for the food safety training, 5.8 times/year for the cooking training, 4.8 times/year for nutrition-related training, and 4.7 times/year for service training.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.716-724
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to investigate the elementary school dietitian's status and recognition of nutrition education (NE) in Incheon. A cross-sectional study was carried out using a self-administered questionnaire and subjects were 100 elementary school dietitians. The results are as follows. As for training in NE, $61.2\%$ of the dietitians attended training in NE. After training in NE, $86.5\%$ of the dietitians who attended training in NE were more concerned about NE. Also $59.5\%$ of the dietitians gave students NE and most of them did as a weekly printout 2-4 times per month. There was a significant difference in experience of NE for teachers between subgroups by experience of training in NE; while $48.1\%$ of the dietitians with training in NE gave teachers NE, $20.0\%$ of the dietitians without training in NE gave teachers NE. The main reason for not giving NE was too much work load and low concern of school administration. Also $96.4\%$ of the dietitians answered that NE is necessary in elementary school and the main reason for being necessary was correction of unbalanced diet and good table manner, As for proper time to start NE for children, $51.8\%$ of dietitians answered 'kindergarten' and $45.8\%$ of them answered 'lower grade of elementary school'. As for effective type for NE, $59.5\%$ of the dietitians answered 'NE as a part of other subject' and $23.8\%$ of them answered 'NE as a separate subject'. Also $79.5\%$ of the dietitians answered 'teacher' as the suitable person for NE. Most of the dietitians recognized menu formation as the ideal major work load and office work as the most time-consuming work load. As to job satisfaction, most of them were dissatisfied with office work and NE. Therefore, it is nationally supported for elementary school students' health and well-being that school dietitians as NE specialists give NE with minimizing their office work and developing a standardized NE program.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.123-139
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to document how clinical dietitians working at tertiary hospitals spend their time based on several categories of activities using a time measurement study. The questionnaires were distributed to 14 tertiary hospitals, and dietitians answered by classifying their work activities into several categories such as general care, indirect care, direct care, outpatient care, and food service management. A total of 129 clinical dietitians replied and their answers were analyzed according to the categories of activities. The times spent on the categories are as follows: general care (76.7 mins/day, 14%), indirect care (228.4 mins/day, 35%), direct care (120.1 mins/day, 22%), outpatient care (61.5 mins/day, 11%), and food service management (99.0 mins/day, 18%). The total working hours for dietitians was 590.0 mins, which exceeds the standard working hours of 540.0 mins (9 hrs) a day. From this study, we found that clinical dietitians spent very limited time on direct care. Times spent on activities were different according to type of employment and food service. Internship dietitians spent their more time on general care (P<0.001) while irregular dietitians spent more time on outpatient care (P<0.05). In contracted managed food service hospitals, clinical dietitians spent significantly less time on food service management (P<0.001). Regardless of doctors' order and consultation fees, clinical dietitians performed more than 95 percent of free consultation to patients. Entry-level knowledge and skills of dietitians working at hospitals are very important for quality service, but it is equally important to create an administrative and social environment that encourages clinical dietitian to spend more time on direct patient care.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.127-142
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to investigate the consciousness of dietitians who provide the basic data for the utilization of traditional food in school food service. The conclusions of this study are as follows. The rate of recognition and awareness of traditional Korean food as the pursuit of learning about socio-demographic was generally high, and was remarkable in the elderly dietitians who have worked for a long term. The way how they learned about traditional Korean food was through media, school education, books, and home education, in order. Also, the dietitians who are relatively older or have worked for a long term have pride in traditional food because it suited their taste and was our traditional food. However, it was difficult to provide the food to school food service because the cooking process is complex, and students don's prefer it. Accordingly, improvements of recipe with use of traditional Korean food in school food service are urgently required. The dietitians in Gwangju City in Jeonnam province felt the need to make a standard traditional Korean food recipe, and the demand was especially the strongest among dietitians who have worked from 6 to 10 years. They suggested that the standard recipe should be made by the Korean Dietetic Association, dietitians working at school, Ministry of Education & Human Resource Development, professors majoring in Food & Nutrition, and Ministry of Health & Welfare in order.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.41-53
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• 2010

The purposes of this study were to: a) investigate personal and foodservice operational factors affecting job stress of school foodservice dietitians, b) analyze the contribution of emotional labor to job stress of school foodservice dietitians. A survey was conducted from May 2 to June 13, 2008 to collect data from school foodservice dietitians (N=546). 206 questionnaires were returned completed, and 15 improperly-completed questionnaires were excluded. Finally, 191 questionnaires were used for final statistical analysis (usage rate : 34.98%). The results of the study were as follows. First, personal variables significantly affecting dietitians' job stress were 'monthly bills(p<0.05)' and 'total length of time in school foodservice (p<0.05)'. Second, foodservice operational variables affecting dietitians' job stress were 'school level (p<0.05)', 'type of school foodservice management (p<0.01)', 'number of meal service times (p<0.05)', 'total number of meals served per day (p<0.001)', 'number of meals served per day for students (p<.001)', 'number of meals served per day for teachers (p<0.001)', and 'number of foodservice staff (p<0.001)'. Third, emotional labor was found to contribute significantly to the job stress of dietitians in school foodservice (p<0.001). It was found that as dietitians experience more emotional labor at work, more job stress is experienced. Stress management is a very important and meaningful contributor to foodservice quality as well as to personal well-being for workers in school foodservice. Therefore, it is proposed that management of emotional labor is essential for stress management. Further, emotional labor and job stress should no longer be considered a personal matter, but rather should be approached systematically in all aspects of a school foodservice organization.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 1980

A total of 35 hospitals throughout Korea were surveyed for the assessment of the educational function of dietitians. The current situation and the depth of practices were diagnosed in such areas as: 1. The continuing education for the hospital dietitians 2. The characteristics of patient consultation performed by the hospital dietitians 3. Systems and methods of patient instruction practiced by the dietitians, and 4. Prospectives in establishing the nutrition education center for the in-and out-patients. The major findings are: 1. Approximately half of the hospital dietitians feel positive about the practicality of their college education for the job. Extremely small number of them are on any kind of continuing education program 2) The monthly average of only 20 patients at one hospital receive diet consultation or nutrition education service from dietitians. The 50% of the consultation cases is taken up by the patients with diabetes and various circulartory diseases followed by the tube feedings, liver and renal diseases with less frequencies 3) Not even a single hospital has an office for the diet consultation and nutrition education for the in-or out-patients. Very few hospital dietetics have educational aids and/or any feedback system to evaluate the effect of the consultation. Charting is not practiced by most dietitians leaving no record of their contributions to the patient care. 4) Although the necessity of the nutrition education center in the hospital is strong1y recognized among dietitians the progress has been blocked by such obstacles as the poor system in the hospital administration in general, short in funds, lack of preparation in the dietetics and the lack of recognition both by the hospital administration and by the dietitian themselves.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.140-153
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• 2015

Considering the importance of institutional foodservice in modern dietary life and its influence on the environment, sustainable development in institutional foodservice industry carries great significance. The current study was conducted to investigate dietitians' perceptions of sustainable business-and-industry foodservice and their intentions to perform sustainable practices by applying a mixed methodology. For the quantitative study, an online survey was conducted on 362 dietitians who had worked at a contact foodservice company for more than 1 year. The survey was performed from December 15th, 2011 to January 30th, 2012, and 202 responses were used for the analysis. For the qualitative a study, a focus group interview was conducted during May, 2012 with representative employees of the company. According to the results, dietitians seemed to be unfamiliar with the terms "sustainability" or "sustainable development," whereas they understood related contents and practices. Dietitians' awareness and perceived need in terms of sustainable business-and-industry foodservice were not significantly different across general characteristics. Dietitians seemed to be highly aware of the impacts of business-and-industry foodservice on economy, whereas they appeared to lack understanding of its impacts on society and environment. Cost increase and levy on work in daily operations were considered as main obstacles hampering dietitians' intentions to perform sustainable practices. A total of 88.1% of responding dietitians expected that the meal price at a sustainable business-and-industry foodservice should be higher than the supposed standard price of 4,000 won, with an average reaching 5,270 won. Findings from this study could be used as baseline information for vitalizing sustainable business-and-industry foodservice in Korea.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.307-320
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of dietitians in elementary schools. The correlation analysis was conducted in order to examine the relationship among emotional intelligence, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine the impact of dietitians' emotional intelligence on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The analysis results are as follows. Emotional intelligence showed a statistically significantly positive correlation with job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Especially, emotional perception and emotional intelligence had a correlation coefficient of 0.774, the highest but emotional management and organizational commitment had a correlation efficient of 0.254, the lowest. As for the effect of dietitians' emotional intelligence on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, emotional thinking promotion gave a statistically significantly positive impact on dietitians' organizational commitment. As dietitians' emotional function of thought and emotional management got higher, their job satisfaction got higher. As dietitians' emotional function of thought got higher, their organizational commitment got higher as well. These results recommend that development of an emotional intelligence promotion program to effectively control factors related to dietitians' emotional intelligence is necessary to enhance their job satisfaction and organization commitment in the future.