The Role of Clinical Dietitians in Nutrition Support Team and Clinical Practice

Objective Clinical nutritionist plays an important role in the nutrition support team,but has not been paid attention by Children's Hospital. We analyzed the data about the works of clinical dietitians in Shanghai Children's Medical Center( SCMC) in 2011—2013 to afford references for pediatric nutrition. Method We retrospectively explored 414 pediatric patients who got clinical dieteticans consultation during January 2011-December 2013,and analyzed the reasons of consultation,follow-up consultation rate,department category,the mean of nutritional advise,and the nutritional status before and after the consultation. Result The total number of consultation increased by 22% —38%,and the involved departments increased from 10 to 15. Malnourished pediatric patients gained body weight from13. 22 kg to 13. 41 kg after dietitian consultation( P 0. 01). We used STAMP score to evaluate the nutritional risk of inpatients. The mean score was 5 before our consultation and 4. 23 after that( P 0. 01). The proportion of feeding instruction and disease diet instruction was 69% and 31%,respectively. Conclusion Clinical dietitians should work closely with clinicians and nurses and assess nutrition status of inpatients to find out patients with nutritional risk,and give them tailored nutrition intervention and nutrition education to improve the nutritional status and clinical outcome.