Kent State Interns

       In the September 2014 edition of Today’s Dietitian , David Yeager highlighted a possible breakthrough project that could advance current medical treatment and disease prevention.   Multiple labs are participating in what is known as the Human Microbiome Project, which is under the National Institutes of Health.   The project entails two phases.   The first phase, which was completed from 2007-2013, was aimed to identify and describe the microbial community that lives within the human body.   The second phase, which is started in 2013 and will continue until 2015, aims to describe the biology between the interaction of the microbes and the human body.   The ongoing study is hoping to target how health is maintained through the microbiome and how to treat disease (specifically digestive disease).          Various studies have proved that microbiota plays a key role in h...

The purpose of this article was to categorize and analyze the nutritional quality of emergency foods distributed by the Oregon Food Bank. The supplies that are distributed from food banks to soup kitchens, food pantries, and other charitable structures are most often obtained from wholesalers, manufacturers, and government sources. Food Banks distribute foods to food insecure individuals throughout the nation in attempt to reduce malnutrition by offering supposedly nutrient adequate foods. According to the article, “food-insecure populations experience higher rates of chronic conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity” (Hoisington et al, 2011). Food groups for the analysis were primarily determined by MyPyramid and the 2005 DGA. Over a year’s period (2004-2005), over 36 million pounds of food distributed by the Oregon Food Bank was analyzed. The results of the study indicated that meat/beans, grains, and vegetables were distributed more than fr...

“Virtual Nutrition Counseling” http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/040114p42.shtml             Although classic nutrition counseling has occurred in settings like a hospital or within a private practice, advances in technology have opened up a new arena for nutrition counseling.   New modes of correspondence with patients include phone meetings, video chatting, public settings and even house calls.   This way of communication benefits patients with busy schedules or who may live in remote locations.   It can also benefit RDs for the same reasons.              Virtual healthcare practices are also called telehealth and are not new within the medical field, but are gaining popularity within the dietetic profession.   Telehealth and Telenutrition have been defined by the Academy Definitions of Terms List as: “Telehealth is the use of el...

          Transitioning to electronic medical records (EMRs) from paper charts can help facilitate patient visits and help run practice more efficiently. Registered dietitians (RDs) have noted that paper charts look unprofessional when sending them to physicians and typing up patient records and notes is time and labor intensive. Paper charts can take up valuable space and can accidently be destroyed or misplaced. It is also easy for paper charts to be stolen if not locked away properly. The benefits of EMRs have interested RDs in private practice in this methodology of charting.             EMRs make housekeeping tasks easier. They can store patient’s vital stats, contact information, insurance, referring doctors, medications, and lab results in one location. EMRs also make it easy to keep notes on patients and what was discussed in sessions. Some EMRs also have billing features, whi...

The leaders from MetroHealth, Cleveland Clinic, Sisters of Charity, Akron General and University Hospitals met on September 18 at the Cleveland Convention Center to discuss the current and future state of healthcare.   Healthcare as we know it is changing.   The model of health care is changing from treating sick people to preventative care.   The leaders discussed slashing budgets by the millions.   The number of hospitals beds has decreased from 1 million to 800,00 across the country, and average occupancy at 65%. Hospitals are are forced to do things differently since there are fewer patients and hospitals are generating less revenue.   Physicians are collaborating together to share knowledge, The costs for patient services vary across hospitals, due to the difficulty of assigning a value to services such as research and staff education and then throw in the antiquated way costs are reported to Medicare, which distorts the true cost o...

           The new rule from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) took effect on July 11, 2014. The new rule issued by CMS will allow qualified RDNs and qualified food and nutrition practitioners working in hospitals the ability to order therapeutic diet orders independent from a physician’s supervision. It also provides RDNs the privilege to order nutrition related laboratory tests for monitoring therapeutic diet orders with or without supervision of a physician.             Ordering privileges for nutrition related laboratory tests are determined by hospitals in accordance with state laws and other requirements of CMS. The rule increases flexibility for health care practitioners to improve care, save on costs, and provide a more patient centered care experience.             This rule was enabled with the h...

                The goal of this article was to illustrate the common daily duties associated with being a Nutrition Service Director in school food service. The tasks performed in the article were actually taken from the day planner notebook of a Nutrition Service Director attempting to manage issues that arise in the line of work.                 For this Director, the day starts very early in the morning before any other staff arrive to prepare coffee to ensure staff satisfaction. Being the first individual in has its perks-- in this case, discovering a broken water main and contacting the correct personal to repair damages and find substitutes for last minute call offs. The day continues into answering voicemails about the daily menus to concerned parents and elaborating on the nutritional value of the foods included. With littl...