Do you find your patients are open to making the changes you recommend ?
I think it ' s really important to establish their motivation point . Why are they here ? What is their goal ? Do they just want a little bit more energy to play with the grandkids ? Do they want to stay out of a nursing home ? Is it that they don ' t want to be a burden on anyone ? I collect a lot of data on this and we get some great results when we compare people from their initial appointments with their review appointments . They are a motivated group .
What would your key pieces of advice be to a dietitian working with this client group ?
1 . Don ' t underestimate the complexities of malnutrition . Adopt a holistic approach and look for everything – sometimes , it ' s the things that are easy and obvious that get missed by everyone .
2 . Take time to establish rapport . Spend the first five or 10 minutes looking at photos of the grandkids , talking about the dog , where they ' re living … if you can build a trusted relationship , you ’ re halfway there .
4 . Revisit the client ' s goals – they may be very different to what you identify .
5 . Food first is fabulous , but jumping in with supplements can also be appropriate . It means you understand a patient ' s needs and you ' re individualising their care in the best possible way .
3 . Respect and validate what they know . They ' ve often done the cooking in their house for longer than you ' ve been alive ! Tell them you ’ re not professing to be the absolute expert , but that you are there to help them at this particular point in time .
6 . Link patients in for follow up .
That ' s how we ’ re going to address community malnutrition – one person at a time .
© Dietitian Connection 20 Infuse | October 2022