BRIEF HISTORY
The Nutrition Unit was established in July 2008, due to the increasing need for nutritional input for effective management of mentally ill patients. It provides nutritional status information for treating the patients as well as monitoring their responses to treatment (both at Aro and Lantoro Annex).
The department has made significant contributions to mental health service delivery particularly in the area of nutritional status of the patients on admission and at discharge. The department continues to render optimum selfless service to the hospital clients.
PHILOSOPHY AND OBJECTIVE Philosophy
The philosophy of the Department of Nutrition is to establish and encourage good nutritional practices and standards as an integral part of the health care provided to the population served (clients) by the hospital.
Objectives
The objectives of the department is to provide a structural approach to the recognition, assessment, treatment and monitoring of altered nutritional status.
FUNCTIONS
The functions of the Department are:
To promote good health by providing appropriate health information to the clients.
To assess the nutritional status of malnourished patients and those at risk of malnutrition.
To calculate nutritional requirements of individual patients, and designing a plan of care to meet these nutritional requirements.
To manage, plan and supervise meal preparation serve to the clients.
To manage of nutritional problems using diet prescription for patients with a particular illness and translating the diet into a diet pattern acceptable to the patient.
To modify diets when necessary.
To introduce therapeutic diet when necessary for individual patients.
To give nutritional counseling aimed at making the clients gain insight into their nutritional problems and guide them on how to live a healthy life.
To determine the nutritional status of patients by using nutrition assessment.
To monitor patient's progress and outcome on nutritional support or therapeutic diet and keep the team informed through attendance at case conferences or ward rounds.
To be part of the family therapeutic team in DATER House.
To counsel relatives on the nutritional needs of their wards at Child and Adolescent Clinic
To arrange outpatient follow up with the department.
To educate discharged patients.
To train and educate other health care workers.