Introduction                                     Return to the Beginning

Diet education for the hospitalized patient is often overlooked, whether it is because no referral was made for education, the diet is related to an old diagnosis and therefore “unimportant,” or the patient showed no interest and therefore diet education was not offered. It is sometimes hard to discern what is an appropriate amount of information to provide. Often patients have other, more urgent medical issues they are dealing with and cannot give full attention to learning the diet. It is essential to let the amount of education be patient-guided to avoid overwhelming a patient, using valuable time to teach an uninterested patient, or missing an educational opportunity with an interested patient. The best course of action is to: 1) inform the patient of the diet, 2) be available for questions, 3) provide basic written information, 4) emphasize a few key points verbally that a patient will remember, and 5) if the patient is interested, provide contact information or make a referral to the dietitian. Emphasizing a few key points is the crux of this learning module. For the purpose of this experience, we are referring to these points as “survival skills.”

Survival skills are immediately useful, small pieces of knowledge patients can use upon going home. Then, when he/she is medically and mentally ready, diet knowledge can be further developed using the written material you have provided and the patient can decide whether further education is desired. Complete education should be done as an outpatient. This is an environment where it is the main focus, without other urgent medical issues to interrupt the learning process.

We hope you will find these “survival skills” useful. It is important to feel comfortable with what and how much nutrition education you provide to your patients.