The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at the American Hospital continues to serve patients with an ever-increasing staff based on evidence-based applications, while patient preferences are strictly respected. At the Nutrition and Dietetics Clinic, we implement “personalized diet programs” that are health-protecting and sometimes provide a therapeutic component. Not only we undertake nutritional treatments for inpatients, we also plan the menus that are prescribed by doctors and/or dietitians for inpatients throughout the facility.
The Nutrition and Dietetics Department aims to encourage patients to increase their healthy eating knowledge and to promote behavioral changes in patients who are admitted due to health problems. To this end the eating habits of each patient are reviewed in detail during the first examination; body fat, muscle and water ratios are measured and the distribution of fat is determined for each patient who require nutritional counseling. Next, a personalized nutrition plan is formulated considering age, height, gender and the specific physiology of each patient. Blood work, as well as a patients’s level of compliance to each customized plan are regularly monitored. Moreover, eating plans are created and literature is provided for patients with specific conditions such as diabetes mellitus or who are undergoing natural physical changes such as pregnancy, lactation, childhood, and adolescence.
There is one significant feature of the Nutrition and Dietetics Department that allows the American Hospital to stand ahead of the competition; our hospital makes a substantial positive difference by screening malnutrition (a clinical condition associated with the deficiency of energy and nutritional elements despite the body’s requirements as a result of insufficient content and quantity of nutrition) in all inpatients using the illuminating NRS 2002 form that is developed by the European Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ESPEN).
Nutrition and diet counseling and special menu planning are available to fulfill requests of private institutions and organizations; moreover, our dietitians that appear frequently in written and visual media continue to work to inform the public and raise awareness.