We lived in the children ' s hospital for over a year and that experience showed me firsthand the difference between a good clinician and an amazing one who is driven by their genuine , quality , patient-focused care . It made me decide that I didn ' t want to be a tick-the-box dietitian , but a dietitian who really had an impact on people . The malnutrition intervention clinic role came up , and I ' m still there today – and I love it .
How did the Malnutrition Intervention Clinic come about ?
The clinic itself was created in 2014 by Suzanne Kennewell , who had a vision of a clinic with a sole focus on addressing malnutrition within older , communitydwelling people . She was awarded a funding grant and the clinic has now been going for almost eight years . Our clients need to be living in the community , over 65 years of age and malnourished or at risk of malnutrition . Our referrals come primarily from the hospital and local geriatricians , but also local specialists , general medical staff and GPs who are concerned about a patient ’ s unintentional weight loss , poor appetite or frailty . The clinic is unique in that we really try to recognise the challenges that many older people have in getting out to appointments – we have longer appointment times , we have a driver service to individually pick up and take the patient home and , before COVID , we had tea , coffee , biscuits and sandwiches there for the patients .
What are the common challenges you see for older adults and nutrition , and what are some of your strategies to combat them ?
We need to continue education about malnutrition and why identifying it is so important . It ' s sad to see something preventable go undetected .
1Unravelling the legacy
of diet culture .
Identifying malnutrition .
In the context of malnutrition , we need to try and get older people to see different rules for different situations . It doesn ’ t matter if they have sugar !
3
2
Reframing . Peoples ' eating habits need to change as they progress through life . As people age , they need to focus on different nutritional priorities .
© Dietitian Connection 18 Infuse | October 2022