Nutrition-related backgrounds and counseling practices of doctors of chiropractic.

A questionnaire was designed and mailed to the entire membership (no. = 438) of the San Francisco Bay Area Chiropractic Society to determine their nutrition education backgrounds and counseling practices and the relationship of backgrounds and counseling practices and the relationship of backgrounds and information resources to counseling practices. Results, based on the 23% response rate, indicated that the hours of formal nutrition education in chiropractic college varied widely in the five categories of responses from zero to more than 120, with the median respondent falling in the median category (81 to 100 hours). Sixty percent of the respondents indicated that they provided nutrition information to their patients on a routine basis, and 38% provided information on request only. The major forms of nutrition information dissemination were counseling (87%) and written materials (74%). The majority of respondents reported that they diagnose osteoporosis, arthritis, and allergies and use nutrition treatments for those disorders as a part of overall therapy. Chiropractic journals and texts were the most frequently used sources of nutrition information. Awareness of the educational backgrounds of registered dietitians correlated positively with the use of dietitians as a resource for nutrition information (p less than .005). The survey results suggest a need for dietitians to become involved in the nutrition-related practices of chiropractors as sources for information and referral.

Comparison of two methods of educating dietitians.

This study investigated whether graduates having a master's degree with 6 months of qualifying experience are as knowledgeable and perceived as being as competent as graduates having traditional bachelor's degrees with a 12-month internship. Twenty-nine graduates (17 with bachelor's degrees and 12 with master's degrees) from San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, participated in the study. Our results showed: (a) The mean registration examination scores of the two groups were not significantly different; the scores of those with master's degrees, however, were more clustered around the mean. (b) No significant difference in graduates' self-ratings was found between the two groups. (c) The supervisors' ratings of clinical competencies were higher for graduates with bachelor's degrees than for those with master's degrees. There was no significant difference in the supervisors' ratings of administrative competencies for the two groups. Other results showed various significant correlations between demographic data, registration examination scores, self-ratings, and supervisors' ratings. This study gave evidence that the university-sponsored master's qualifying experience is a viable route to membership in The American Dietetic Association.

Labor time code for assembling and microwave heating menu items in a hospital galley.

Labor times for microwave-heating activities were developed by using Master Standard Data (MSD). Step 1 involved defining the layout of the actual hospital galley , dividing into small motions the labor activities involved in assembling menu items that would be microwave heated, and identifying basic elements for each motion. Step 2 was the development of seven macro elements under simulated conditions in the laboratory. In step 3, a stopwatch time study in the laboratory was used to verify MSD-predicted times for the seven macro elements. For the final step, a stopwatch time study was conducted under actual operating conditions in a hospital galley . Predicted time derived from laboratory simulation of microwave-heating activities indicated that it should take a foodservice employee 1.71 minutes to assemble menu items from two trays and heat the items by using two microwave ovens . Total labor time for assembling and microwave heating menu items under actual conditions in the hospital galley was similar to MSD-predicted times. Although labor times reported are specific for the cook/chill foodservice system used in this study, the methods and the code may be applied in other hospital foodservices to develop specific labor times for those facilities.

Energy use and management in production of entrées in hospital food service systems.

Energy required for process stages of production of beef loaves was determined for five simulated hospital food service systems. Three were on-premise systems: conventional, cook/chill, and cook/freeze. Two were assembly/serve systems: thaw/heat/serve and heat/serve. Meters were used to monitor actual energy consumed by gas and electrically operated equipment. Data were converted to BTUs. Apportioned energy, a derivative of actual energy, was based on percentage of usable equipment space occupied by the beef loaves. Theoretical energy was calculated on the basis of temperature change, product mass, and heat capacity. Results varied according to the measure used, but the cook/chill and cook/freeze systems required more energy than the conventional system regardless of the measure used. From data obtained in this exploratory study, however, there is no basis for saying that any one system minimizes energy use. Additional research should include all stages of processing and effects of increasing volume and using equipment to capacity.