Are RD's prepared to be Hospital Food Service Directors?

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     As a future RD, I often wonder how hospital food service directors who happen to be Registered Dietitians became so proficient in creating a budget(accounting) or human resource management which contains a huge psychological component?  As part of our DPD curriculum, organizational management classes and accounting were required but a semester is hardly long enough to become proficient in topics and I've noticed food service managers typically having backgrounds in hospitality management. Interestingly, this abstract  (journal only available for purchase) from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association strives to answer are RD's adequately prepared to be hospital food service directors? In the study, 500 random hospital food service directors and 500 hospital executives to whom directors report were mailed a questionnaire with competencies listed. These individuals were to first state if they thought the competencies were important for someone in the role of food service director to be proficient and then to rate an RD's competency in each particular area.  Results showed all competencies were perceived to be important for an individual in the role of hospital food service director yet RD's were only considered an expert in a few of the areas. I would be interested in seeing these competencies within the full text yet the article really explained the importance of paying close attention in our supervised food service internships now and appropriately asserting ourselves to show we are knowledgeable in kitchen safety and sanitation!

E. Kintner

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