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.’

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.

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.