Are Registered Dietitians Adequately Prepared to Be Hospital Foodservice Directors?

Unique competencies appear to be important for those aspiring to become hospital foodservice directors. Hospital executives who had worked with RDs perceived the competency level of RDs to be higher than did executives who had not worked with RDs. Often, areas rated as most important for the role of hospital foodservice director were not areas in which RDs were perceived to be highly competent. Additional competency development may be needed to better prepare RDs to assume the role of hospital foodservice director.