Presentation
Nutrition Services at an Interprofessional Student-Run Clinic
Collaborating Across Borders: VIII Conference
(2023)
Abstract
Background and research questions: The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics joined the interprofessional, student-run clinic at St. Catherine University, the St. Mary’s Medical and Rehabilitative Therapies (SMMART) in 2020, to enable dietetics students and interns to provide culturally-appropriate medical nutrition therapy. The SMMART clinic serves a primarily Latinx population; the patients of the SMMART clinic are at a disproportionately high risk for chronic nutrition-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) due to high rates of obesity and other comorbidities1. Goal and purpose: To implement a nutrition services program at an interprofessional student-run clinic. Methodology & methods: Patients are referred for medical nutrition therapy if they are identified to be at nutritional risk due to food insecurity, altered nutrition-related laboratory values, obesity or weight management, and/or per patient request. Each patient is booked for a one-hour virtual or in-person nutrition appointment with access to an interpreter. Supplementary written nutrition resources were developed in both English and Spanish to provide patients with tailored handouts or videos. Results: Since June of 2020, 14 dietetics students and 1 dietetic intern have conducted over 225 appointments, providing nutrition assessments and education for 136 unique patients under nutrition faculty supervision. The majority of patients are counseled on chronic disease management such as pre-diabetes or T2DM diet management, a heart healthy diet for blood pressure or cholesterol management, and weight management strategies. Over 70 handouts and 7 videos have been developed to support patient knowledge.Conclusions and curiosities: Theintegration of nutrition services in the SMMART clinic has been successful based on the quantity of care and is a unique opportunity for students, faculty and patients. Future studies to evaluate patient satisfaction, patient outcomes and interprofessional student learning outcomes will be helpful to move forward in advancing nutrition services at the clinic.
Disciplines
Publication Date
May, 2023
Location
Virtual
Citation Information
Ambria Crusan and Megan D Baumler. "Nutrition Services at an Interprofessional Student-Run Clinic" Collaborating Across Borders: VIII Conference (2023) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ambria-crusan/30/