(a)  A person shall present satisfactory evidence to the board of having successfully completed the academic requirements of an educational program in dietary management recognized by the board at an accredited college or university as determined by the board.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 5-64.1-7

  • Board: means the certifying board for dietary managers. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-64.1-3
  • Dietary manager: means a person who:

    (i)  Integrates and applies principles with education and training at an accredited school, college, or university in purchasing, personnel practices, supervision of people, budgeting and finance, menu planning, and nutrition;

    (ii)  Directs and coordinates food-service activities of a hospital, nursing home, or a related facility;

    (iii)  Confers with dieticians to ensure that menus and department policies conform to nutritional standards and government and established regulations and procedures;

    (iv)  Reviews patient diet information and discusses requests, changes, and inconsistencies with the patient, professional staff, and/or resident food committee or council;

    (v)  Plans and coordinates through subordinate supervisors, standards and procedures of food storage, preparation, and service, department and equipment sanitation, employee safety, and personnel policies and procedures;

    (vi)  Inspects food and food preparation and storage areas with knowledge of health and sanitation regulations;

    (vii)  Tastes, smells, and observes food to ensure conformance with recipes and appearance standards;

    (viii)  Attends meetings with employees, department heads, administration, and dieticians to discuss regulations, procedures, grievances, and recommendations for improving food service;

    (ix)  Computes operating costs for own information and for information of administration;

    (x)  In the absence of the dietician, a certified dietary manager is responsible for the department; and

    (xi)  Oversees all therapeutic diets to be planned in writing, reviewed, approved, and dated by the qualified dietician. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-64.1-3

  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6

(b)  All persons shall meet the qualifications established by the commission of registration of the American Dietetic Association for registered dieticians.

(c)  An applicant for certification shall have successfully completed the written examination of the Dietary Manager’s Association. The title of C.D.M. must be earned by successfully completing the examination.

(d)  Applicants shall be responsible for applying to take the certifying board for dietary manager‘s examination that is offered at a predetermined time and place. The application shall be accompanied by a fee as prescribed by the board, and this fee shall not be refundable.

(e)  An applicant shall only be required to take the examination on one occasion; provided, that he or she shall be required to maintain certified status by earning sufficient work time hours as prescribed by the D.M.A., and shall pay annual certification fees when they are due.

(f)  Failure to comply with requirements of this section shall result in the loss of certified status, and the person shall be required to successfully complete the exam again.

(g)  To maintain certified status, forty-five (45) hours of continuing education must still be earned in each three-year (3) certifying period. If this requirement is not met, certified status shall be lost.

(h)  The exam may be taken three (3) times. If an applicant fails all three (3) times, he or she has to take some board-certified specific refresher courses before being eligible to take the exam again. Application and fees must be submitted each time he or she applies.

(i)  Neither D.M.A. nor the certifying board for dietary managers shall administer the examination. It shall be administered by a recognized testing firm.

(j)  Simply graduating from a dietary-manager training program only does not constitute certification. The graduate must meet all eligibility requirements for membership in D.M.A. as established in this chapter.

History of Section.
P.L. 1990, ch. 352, § 1.