Food Allergy-related Awareness and Performance of Dietitians at Children's Hospitals in Korea: Comparison of Certificate Possession among Clinical Dietitians / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the food allergy-related knowledge, awareness, and performance of dietitians at children's hospitals, depending on whether or not they have a clinical dietitian certificate.METHODS: A questionnaire survey was administered to 41 dieticians at children's hospitals registered as a part of the Korean Hospital Association. The survey consisted of questionnaires examining general characteristics, nutritional counseling-related characteristics, and food allergy-related characteristics (food allergy-related knowledge, awareness, and performance). We examined differences according to the status of clinical dietitian certification.RESULTS: The proportion of subjects who were holders of clinical dietitian certificates was 48.8%. There were differences between holders of clinical dietitian certificates and non-holders as follows. Regarding nutritional awareness and performance, ‘needs to provide nutrition counseling in children's hospitals’, ‘providing nutrition counseling services in working hospitals’, and ‘whether there is a nutrition counseling room’ scored higher among holders of clinical dietitian certificates than non-holders. Holders of clinical dietitian certificates showed higher scores for knowledge of food allergy symptoms and food allergy management than non-holders. For food allergy awareness and performance, ‘self-assessment of food allergy knowledge understanding level’, ‘awareness of open oral food challenge (OFC)’, ‘recognition of the need for education and counseling on food allergy for patients/guardians’, and ‘food allergy related educational experience’ scored higher among holders of clinical dietitians certificates than in non-holders.CONCLUSIONS: Children's hospital dietitians with a clinical dietitian certificate showed high knowledge, awareness, and performance related to food allergies. It is thus necessary to employ a clinical dietitian for food allergy management in children's hospitals. In addition, training and conservative education are necessary for the management of food allergies for children's hospital dietitians.

Needs for clinical dietitian in hospital settings: Importance of doctor's awareness regarding clinical nutrition service as mediating variable / 한국영양학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore whether or not there is a relationship between doctor's awareness of clinical nutrition service and needs for a clinical dietitian. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was used. The research was carried out by using questionnaires that had been specifically designed for the study. The research was conducted from September to October, 2013 for 311 doctors at 43 hospitals (with over 400 beds). Frequency analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and bootstrapping analysis were conducted using SPSS 21.0. RESULTS: ‘Implementation of clinical nutritional service’ (p < 0.001) and ‘usefulness on clinical nutrition service’ (p < 0.001) were found to be correlated with ‘importance of clinical nutrition service’ as an independent variable. The correlation between ‘importance of clinical nutrition service’ as a mediating variable and ‘needs for clinical dietitian’ as a dependent variable was also confirmed (p < 0.001). The results of the bootstrapping test showed that the mediating effect of ‘importance of clinical nutrition service’ was significant. The indirect effect value between ‘implementation of clinical nutrition service’ and ‘needs for clinical dietitian’ was 0.040, indirect effect value between ‘usefulness on clinical nutrition service’ and ‘needs for clinical dietitian’ was 0.095. CONCLUSION: The frequency of providing clinical nutritional services, the quality of clinical nutritional services, and the degree of implementation of clinical nutritional services were found to be important for positive perception of clinical nutrition services by doctors. Therefore, proper provision of clinical nutrition services and effective therapeutic effects will be continuously highlighted, which will increase the awareness of the physician and ultimately increase the demand for clinical nutrition service.

Applicability Evaluation of Job Standards for Diabetes Nutritional Management by Clinical Dietitian

This study was conducted to evaluate applicability of job standards for diabetes nutrition management by hospital clinical dietitians. In order to promote the clinical nutrition services, it is necessary to present job standards of clinical dietitian and to actively apply these standardized tasks to the medical institution sites. The job standard of clinical dietitians for diabetic nutrition management was distributed to hospitals over 300 beds. Questionnaire was collected from 96 clinical dietitians of 40 tertiary hospitals, 47 general hospitals, and 9 hospitals. Based on each 5-point scale, the importance of overall duty was 4.4 ± 0.5, performance was 3.6 ± 0.8, and difficulty was 3.1 ± 0.7. ‘Nutrition intervention’ was 4.5 ± 0.5 for task importance, ‘nutrition assessment’ was 4.0 ± 0.7 for performance, and ‘nutrition diagnosis’ was 3.4 ± 0.9 for difficulty. These 3 items were high in each category. Based on the grid diagram, the tasks of both high importance and high performance were ‘checking basic information,’‘checking medical history and therapy plan,’‘decision of nutritional needs,’‘supply of foods and nutrients,’ and ‘education of nutrition and self-management.’ The tasks with high importance but low performance were ‘derivation of nutrition diagnosis,’‘planning of nutrition intervention,’‘monitoring of nutrition intervention process.’ The tasks of both high importance and high difficulty were ‘derivation of nutrition diagnosis,’‘planning of nutrition intervention,’‘supply of foods and nutrients,’‘education of nutrition and self-management,’ and ‘monitoring of nutrition intervention process.’ The tasks of both high performance and high difficulty were ‘documentation of nutrition assessment,’‘supply of foods and nutrients,’ and ‘education of nutrition and self-management.’

Comparison Study on Perception of Job Importance, Job Performance, and Job Difficulty in Clinical Dietitians at Small and Medium Hospitals in Busan

This study aimed to compare perception of job importance, job performance, and job difficulty between clinical dietitians working at small and medium hospitals in Busan. The survey was conducted from July 15 to August 31, 2014, and data were analyzed using the SPSS program. The mean scores for perception of job importance, job performance, and job difficulty of clinical dietitian's task elements were 3.88, 2.87, and 3.18 out of 5.0, respectively. Perception of job importance had a positive relationship with job performance. However, job performance showed a negative relationship with job difficulty. There were strong positive relationships among nutrition assessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention, nutrition monitoring & evaluation, nutrition research in perception of job importance (P<0.05, P<0.01). Nutrition assessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention, and nutrition research showed positive relationships with job performance (P<0.05, P<0.01). There was also a positive relationship among clinical dietitian's task with job difficulty (P<0.05, P<0.01). These results suggest that it would be effective to adopt training programs for appropriate nutrition service and to provide continuous education programs for professional development.

Development of Job Standards of Clinical Dietitian for the Clinical Nutrition Therapy to Cancer Patients in Hospitals

The present study was conducted to provide the basis for improvement of clinical nutrition services through development of job standards of clinical dietitian for the clinical nutrition therapy to cancer patients in hospitals. Developing A Curriculum (DACUM) method was used for job analysis and development of job standards for clinical dietitians for cancer care. Based on DACUM analysis, information about duties, tasks, and task elements of clinical dietitians for cancer care was collected. Developed job standards were applied to clinical nutrition care for cancer patients in hospitals for evaluation. Based on DACUM analysis, consultations from professionals, and field application tests, the final job standards were composed of four duties, 18 tasks, and 56 task elements. The duties consisted of nutritional assessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention, and nutrition monitoring.evaluation. For cancer nutrition care, 109 work activities were developed. They were composed of 75 basic and 34 recommended work activities. The application of developed job standards for clinical dietitians for cancer care at 10 hospitals showed a performance rate of 72.3%. In conclusion, job standards for clinical dietitians for cancer care developed in this study might be effectively used as guidelines for providing clinical nutrition services for cancer patients in hospitals.

Time Measurement Study of Certified Clinical Dietitians from Tertiary Hospital in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do

The objective of this study was to document how clinical dietitians working at tertiary hospitals spend their time based on several categories of activities using a time measurement study. The questionnaires were distributed to 14 tertiary hospitals, and dietitians answered by classifying their work activities into several categories such as general care, indirect care, direct care, outpatient care, and food service management. A total of 129 clinical dietitians replied and their answers were analyzed according to the categories of activities. The times spent on the categories are as follows: general care (76.7 mins/day, 14%), indirect care (228.4 mins/day, 35%), direct care (120.1 mins/day, 22%), outpatient care (61.5 mins/day, 11%), and food service management (99.0 mins/day, 18%). The total working hours for dietitians was 590.0 mins, which exceeds the standard working hours of 540.0 mins (9 hrs) a day. From this study, we found that clinical dietitians spent very limited time on direct care. Times spent on activities were different according to type of employment and food service. Internship dietitians spent their more time on general care (P<0.001) while irregular dietitians spent more time on outpatient care (P<0.05). In contracted managed food service hospitals, clinical dietitians spent significantly less time on food service management (P<0.001). Regardless of doctors' order and consultation fees, clinical dietitians performed more than 95 percent of free consultation to patients. Entry-level knowledge and skills of dietitians working at hospitals are very important for quality service, but it is equally important to create an administrative and social environment that encourages clinical dietitian to spend more time on direct patient care.

Development of Job Standards for Clinical Nutrition Therapy for Dyslipidemia Patients

Dyslipidemia has significantly contributed to the increase of death and morbidity rates related to cardiovascular diseases. Clinical nutrition service provided by dietitians has been reported to have a positive effect on relief of medical symptoms or reducing the further medical costs. However, there is a lack of researches to identify key competencies and job standard for clinical dietitians to care patients with dyslipidemia. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the job components of clinical dietitian and develop the standard for professional practice to provide effective nutrition management for dyslipidemia patients. The current status of clinical nutrition therapy for dyslipidemia patients in hospitals with 300 or more beds was studied. After duty tasks and task elements of nutrition care process for dyslipidemia clinical dietitians were developed by developing a curriculum (DACUM) analysis method. The developed job standards were pretested in order to evaluate job performance, difficulty, and job standards. As a result, the job standard included four jobs, 18 tasks, and 53 task elements, and specific job description includes 73 basic services and 26 recommended services. When clinical dietitians managing dyslipidemia patients performed their practice according to this job standard for 30 patients the job performance rate was 68.3%. Therefore, the job standards of clinical dietitians for clinical nutrition service for dyslipidemia patients proposed in this study can be effectively used by hospitals.

Comparison of Nursing Records and the Catholic Medical Center Nutritional Risk Screening as a Nutrition Screening Tool for Intensive Care Unit Patients

In the present study, we aimed to compare the results from nutritional risk screening based on nursing records with those using the Catholic Medical Center Nutritional Risk Screening (CMCNRS) tool. A cross-sectional study was performed involving 91 patients aged > or = 18 years from an intensive care unit. We collected general characteristics of the patients and nutrition screening was conducted for each patient by using computerized hospital program for the nursing records as well as the CMCNRS conducted by clinical dietitians. The subjects were aged 64.0 +/- 17.5 years, and 52 (57.1%) patients had a NPO (nothing by mouth) status. Neurological disease was the most common diagnosis (25.3%). Compared with the CMCNRS results from the clinical dietitians, the results for the nursing records had a sensitivity of 40.5% (95% CI 32.0-40.5) and a specificity of 100.0% (95% CI 92.8-100.0). The agreement was fair between the CMCNRS results obtained by clinical dietitians and the nursing records (k = 0.423). Analysis of the errors from the screening using the nursing records revealed significant differences for all subjective indicators (p < 0.001), compared with the CMCNRS by the clinical dietitians. Thus, after assessing the methods used for nutrition screening and the differences in the search results regarding malnourished status, we noted that the nursing records had a lower sensitivity than the screening by the CMCNRS.

Development of Job Standards for Clinical Dietitians Administering Clinical Nutrition Therapy to Diabetic Patients in Hospitals

This study was conducted to develop job standards for clinical dietitian administering clinical nutrition therapy to diabetic patients in hospitals. Based on DACUM (Developing A Curriculum) analysis of 17 members including clinical dietitians, professors majoring in clinical nutrition and researchers, information on duties, tasks and task elements of clinical dietitians for diabetes care were derived and applied to diabetes mellitus-specific clinical nutrition care in hospitals for evaluation. The final developed job standards for clinical dietitians for diabetes care included four duties, 19 tasks and 56 task elements. The duties consisted of nutrition assessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention, and nutrition monitoring . evaluation. For application of diabetes mellitus-specific job standards in clinical nutrition care, 108 work activities were developed and classified into 90 basic and 18 recommended types. Performance rates of standardized jobs were 80.2% at nutrition assessment, 99.6% at nutrition diagnosis, 78.5% at nutrition intervention, and 32.9% at nutrition monitoring . evaluation. These results can be applied as guidelines to implement jobs for diabetes mellitus-specific clinical nutrition services in clinical settings. In addition, they would be useful for education standards in educational institutions for education and training of clinical dietitian.

A Study of Hospital-based Home-Visit Nutrition Education Needs of Patients at Discharge / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to provide a basic data of nutrition services in home health care by analyzing hospital-based home-visit nutrition education needs of patients at discharge. METHODS: Data was collected from September 11 to October 12, 2012 by administering questionnaires to 289 chronic disease patients to be discharged from a university hospital in Pusan. The home-visit nutrition education instruments used for collecting data were developed by the researcher. RESULTS: Regarding the demands of home-visit nutrition education, 62.3% of subjects were willing to use home-visit nutrition education and 37.7% weren't. The main reason for using the home-visit nutrition education was "the effective nutrient management in consultation with an individual's doctor", 38.9% and 31.2% of patients who did not wish to use the service gave the reason for their decision as, "Just by managing the nutritional requirements of a family's diet and, the patient will be able to fully recover", respectively. As for the demand, classified with the areas of home-visit nutrition education, the demand for the area of basic nutrition (3.75/5.00) was the highest followed by, the area of educational nutrition (3.74/5.00), therapeutic nutrition (3.67/5.00), and dietary nutrition (3.55/5.00). The demand for the area of educational nutrition was high "Considering the state of dietary management, such as disease status and drugs", 73.7%. As for the relation between the characteristics of the study subjects and analysis of demand home-visit nutrition education, the characteristic of subjects, that is, "regular home-visit nutrition education", "practice of diet therapy after discharge" had a significant difference statistically (p < 0.01). As for the relation between the needs for fundamental home-visit nutrition education and the demand of home-visit nutrition education, basic nutrition, educational nutrition, therapeutic nutrition, and dietary nutrition had a significant difference statistically (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Hospital-based home-visit nutrition education need the access of home nutrition support team.

Development of Job Description of Clinical Dietitians in Hospitals by the DACUM Method

The present study was conducted to develop a standardized job description for clinical dietitians working in hospitals. A developing curriculum (DACUM) method was used for the job analysis of clinical dietitians. Based on DACUM analysis with 14 members, including clinical dietitians and professors majoring in clinical nutrition and job analysis, information on the duties, tasks, and task elements of clinical dietitians was determined. To verify the job descriptions derived from DACUM analysis, a total of 46 tertiary and general hospitals with over 500 beds were recruited for the survey. The final developed job description for clinical dietitians included 7 duties, 27 tasks, and 93 task elements. The duties consisted of nutritional assessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention, nutrition monitoring.evaluation, consultation.cooperation, nutrition research, and self-development. The mean scores of perceived importance, performance, and difficulty on the clinical dietitian's task elements (out of a maximum score of 5.0) were 4.5, 3.7, and 3.5, respectively, with significant differences between the items (P<0.001). The perceived importance and performance grid of clinical dietitian's tasks showed that "construction and maintenance of collaboration" (E2) and "activity of quality improvement" (F1) received relatively low scores for performance despite their high importance scores; thus the performance of these tasks requires significant improvement. In conclusion, the job descriptions of clinical dietitians developed from this study are useful for the qualitative improvement of clinical nutrition services in hospitals.

Doctors' Perception and Needs on Clinical Nutrition Services in Hospitals

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perception and needs of doctors on clinical nutrition services. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The doctors' perception and needs were assessed by questionnaires that had been specifically designed for the study. The research was conducted from February 14 to March 15, 2011 for 544 doctors at 42 large hospitals (with over 400 beds). Ninety-eight percent of doctors responded that clinical nutrition service was important. The mean scores of importance on clinical nutrition service were 4.45 for 'nutrition screening at admission', 4.50 for 'treatment of malnutrition', and 4.43 for 'nutrition education and counseling'. The mean scores of needs for clinical nutrition service were 4.42 for 'individual nutrition counseling & education' 4.39 for 'nutrition management for malnourished patients' and 'nutrition management for tube fed patients'. The medical specialists showed significantly (P<0.01) higher scores than the residents on the importance and needs for clinical nutrition services. Eighty-five percent of the doctors recognized the necessity of the specialized dietitians classified by diseases. The medical specialists (93.8%) showed significantly (P<0.01) higher recognition of this necessity than the residents (77.7%). The low residents' perceptions of the importance and needs for clinical nutrition services will necessitate clinical nutrition education plans. The departments of clinical nutrition in universities should improve the ability and skills of the clinical dietitians.