State of Maryland

A Nutrition Program Trainee is the non-licensed entry level of work providing nutrition services to clients in a public health or community setting.  Employees in the class do not supervise other positions.

Employees in this classification receive close supervision from a higher-level Nutritionist; health administrator or other administrator.  The work may require travel to various locations, such as schools, clients' homes and clinics to learn to provide nutrition services.

Positions in this classification are evaluated by using the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of the class specification.

The Nutrition Program Trainee, Nutritionist I and Nutritionist II are differentiated on the basis of licensure status and degree of supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees.  The Nutrition Program Trainee is non-licensed and learns to perform duties under close supervision.  The Nutritionist I and Nutritionist II are both licensed and the Nutritionist I performs duties under close supervision at times and under general supervision at other times, depending on the complexity of the specific duty being performed while the Nutritionist II performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.

Learns to plan, implement and evaluate nutrition services for an assigned region or population;

Learns to organize and conduct the nutrition component of a county or regional health education program;

Learns to provide direct nutrition and diet therapy counseling services to health department clients and county or regional residents through individual and group counseling;

Learns to develop, review, evaluate and distribute nutrition education materials;

Learns to serve as a resource person in nutrition matters to the local health department staff and to the community at large;

Learns to make public presentations on general nutrition topics;

Learns to analyze population characteristics within the service area and initiate outreach efforts for population subgroups whose characteristics indicate special nutritional requirements;

Learns to provide in-service training and nutrition education materials to professionals, paraprofessionals and support staff in public and private schools and agencies;

Learns to provide information on food assistance programs and initiate referrals to appropriate programs;

Learns to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with local health agencies, community groups and others interested in problems related to foods and nutrition;

Learns to research information in order to keep abreast of current practice, participate in food and nutrition surveys and prepare reports for professional and other use;

Performs other related duties.

Knowledge of the science and practice of nutrition, its relationship to health and disease and its effect on the quality of life;

Knowledge of the interrelationships of social, cultural and economic factors as they affect food habits;

Knowledge of research methods and data analysis;

Knowledge of the techniques of nutrition education and counseling;

Ability to learn the organization and operation of community health care programs;

Ability to learn to interview and conduct individual and group nutritional counseling;

Ability to learn to plan, organize and evaluate a public health nutrition service;

Ability to learn to conduct community nutrition assessments by identifying and analyzing the characteristics of the population that potentially affect nutritional status;

Ability to learn to evaluate the suitability and effectiveness of nutrition education materials;

Ability to communicate effectively;

Ability to make public presentations using a variety of media;

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with health professionals, paraprofessionals and community leaders.

Education:   A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Community Nutrition, Dietetics, Foods and Human Nutrition, Food Systems Management or Nutrition Education.

Experience: None.

Note: Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a commissioned officer in Dietitian and Nutritionist classification or Dietitian and Nutritionist specialty codes in the Dietitian field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required education.

Class specifications are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State Departments and agencies. Position descriptions maintained by the using departments and agencies specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

This is a Professional Service classification in the State Personnel Management System.  All positions in this classification are Professional Service positions.  Some positions in Professional Service classifications may be designated as Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.

This classification is assigned to Bargaining Unit E- Health Professionals classes.  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial, and confidential employees are excluded from collective bargaining. Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series.  NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance levels in a classification series.  In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class as defined in the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification, and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.