Dietitian

About This Role

This role provides nutritional services to patients, both in-center and at home, focusing on maximizing their nutritional status and improving clinical outcomes. The dietitian works as a member of an interdisciplinary healthcare team, contributing to quality enhancement and performance improvement activities to help patients achieve their individualized goals.

Responsibilities

• Assess patient's knowledge of diet and kidney disease and provide education appropriate to their learning needs
• Provide patient-specific detailed education regarding nutritional status, adequacy measures and results, fluid status, and all nutrition-related lab parameters pertaining to their disease process
• Complete nutritional assessments and participate in interdisciplinary comprehensive assessments
• Participate with the interdisciplinary team in developing a written, individualized comprehensive plan of care
• Calculate diet prescription according to standard of practice
• Complete progress notes on all chronic dialysis patients according to established guidelines
• Maintain complete and accurate documentation of all appropriate information in medical records
• Provide patients with ongoing nutrition assessment and outcome-oriented nutrition counseling
• Identify malnourished patients and those at risk for malnutrition, working collaboratively with the interdisciplinary team to identify appropriate interventions, resources, or solutions
• Review each patient's albumin level and body weight at least monthly
• Implement plan of care with involvement of patient/family/caregiver
• Monitor adherence and response to nutrition therapy, adjusting therapy as needed to achieve and sustain an effective nutritional status
• Document why the patient was unable to achieve goals and implement the plan of care to address issues impacting the patient's ability to achieve goals
• Collaborate with the interdisciplinary team on Urea Kinetic Modeling recommendations to achieve the physician's prescription of Kt/V
• Collaborate with the interdisciplinary team on management and recommendations for mineral metabolism and renal bone disease, anemia and iron status, nutritional status, psychosocial status, vascular access, modality, rehabilitation status, and sodium/volume control
• Adhere to FMCNA algorithm and medical record policies
• Report on nutrition QAI results and participate in the interdisciplinary QAI program
• Collaborate and coordinate with team members in provision of Pre-ESRD education as appropriate
• Work with Case Manager to coordinate plan of care for patient education and identify candidates to refer to physician for nutritional supplements, as per disease management agreements
• Review nutrition-related lab results