Acute Care Dietitians provide in hospital medical nutrition therapy to admitted patients at nutrition risk, including enteral (tube) and parental (intravenous) nutrition management.
Patients at nutrition risk may be defined by:
- weight loss or low weight
- inadequate food intake, and being unable to eat orally
- ongoing nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, and
- increased severity of disease.
If you are in hospital and concerned you may be at nutrition risk, ask your physician or nurse for a referral to see a dietician.
Acute care dietitians work in a variety of areas in the hospital including critical care, surgery, medicine, cardiology, burns, mental health, gastroenterology, neurology, pediatric and perinatal nutrition, nephrology, oncology, palliative care, and respirology.