March is National Nutrition Month and I thought I’d use the CHAMP community as a forum to discuss the important role a Nutritionist plays in caring for older home care patients. I am a Nutrition Manager at VNS CHOICE and when I welcome and orient new Clinicians to my department, I always tell them about the importance of screening for medical conditions that can influence dietary behaviors among our geriatric patients. There are so many health problems that plague older people that it is really important to make sure what they eat is properly assessed and modified depending on their health conditions.

Ideally, a Nutritionist should be consulted at the start of care to identify individuals who may be underweight, overweight, diabetic or have any other health concerns that may require nutritional intervention. If there is a Nutritionist included in a patient’s care team, they can discuss possible dietary modifications with clinicians and take the necessary steps to help modify a patient’s dietary intake. Clinicians may not be aware of all the red flags that come with a patient’s condition and the Nutritionist can offer a fresh perspective in pinpointing specific dietary concerns.

An example of a case where early consultation with a Nutritionist can prevent complications is with an older individual, who has a history of congestive heart failure and is taking enteral supplements three times a day.  In this case it is important for the clinician to be aware of the type of supplement the patient is taking and to be on the look out for excessive weight gains by the patient.  In this instance, one of the roles of a Nutritionist can be to collaborate with the clinician and help to decide which enteral supplement should be used to prevent exacerbation of CHF and how the supplements can be incorporated with the patient’s usual diet.

So as we honor National Nutrition Month, I encourage everyone to make a greater effort in identifying patients that might benefit from nutritional intervention. CHAMP has added a number of great tools and other resources to help you get started! Click here to download them from the CHAMP Tools page!

Kathy Anderson, RD, MS, MBA is the Nutrition Manager for the VNS CHOICE program at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. She has been working as a Registered Dietitian for the last 15 years.