Clinical Nutrition

1. Overview of the Department

During the period when our hospital was operated by Germany (1899～1914), a patient kitchen was established. In 1955, a nutrition unit was established to provide patients with two major categories of diets: basic diets and therapeutic diets. In cooperation with clinical departments, it carried out dietary therapy and was awarded the title of Advanced Collective in Health by the Qingdao Municipal People’s Committee in 1957. In August 1990, the Department of Nutrition was established, responsible for dietary management, teaching, scientific research, and health education for inpatients in all departments of the hospital. In 1998, the Department of Nutrition became affiliated with the clinical departments and undertook medical care, teaching, and research related to patient nutrition. In 2022, in accordance with the unified requirements of the National Health Commission, it was renamed the Department of Clinical Nutrition.

The Nutrition Outpatient Clinic was opened in April 2005. Nutrition outpatient clinics are currently available at the Shinan Campus, Laoshan Campus, West Coast Campus, and Pingdu Campus. Since 1993, the department has participated in the nutritional treatment of critically ill patients and in the nutritional treatment of inpatients throughout the hospital and patients outside the hospital. In particular, since 2000, its participation in the rescue of critically ill patients has increased year by year, achieving good clinical therapeutic effects for traumatic brain injury, multiple-organ failure, dissecting aneurysms at multiple sites, severe drug eruptions, severe burns, severe malnutrition, intestinal fistula, radiation enteritis, dysbiosis, and other conditions. In 2016, the Department of Clinical Nutrition of our hospital became the Qingdao Clinical Nutrition Quality Control Center and a benchmark department for the development of clinical nutrition departments in the peninsula region. Keeping pace with the times, the Department of Clinical Nutrition has empowered clinical nutrition diagnosis and treatment through digital intelligence, innovatively developing a HIS-based nutrition diagnosis and treatment system, a smart medical dietary system, a chronic disease nutrition management system, and a virtual nutrition ward. In March 2023, it was awarded the first group of Demonstration Units for the Development of Clinical Nutrition Departments by the Institute of Hospital Management Research of the National Health Commission. In 2025, it was approved as a technical institution for the verification and evaluation of special foods and has carried out multiple clinical trial studies of special foods. In September 2025, it was approved as a project unit for the research on the development of weight management centers of the Institute of Hospital Management Research of the National Health Commission.

Through the unremitting efforts of several generations, the Department of Clinical Nutrition has achieved leapfrog development in terms of its construction scale, medical services, professional structure, academic standards, talent development, and medical equipment, and has achieved remarkable accomplishments in medical care, teaching, scientific research, and other areas.

The Department of Clinical Nutrition treats patients with primary nutritional disorders caused by insufficient, excessive, or inappropriate proportions of nutrient intake (such as malnutrition, osteoporosis, anemia, obesity, gestational diabetes mellitus, etc.). In collaboration with clinical departments, it jointly diagnoses and treats patients with secondary nutritional disorders caused by various factors, including organic or functional diseases, traumatic stress, and special physiological factors (diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, gout, childhood diabetes, weight management during pregnancy, anorexia, etc.). It also jointly diagnoses and treats patients with various diseases in collaboration with clinical departments (cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, respiratory system diseases, hematological diseases, tumors, etc.).

2. Talent Structure

The Department of Clinical Nutrition currently has 1 chief physician, 1 associate chief physician, 13 attending physicians, 1 chief technician, and 2 supervising technicians. Among them, 3 hold doctoral degrees, 5 are pursuing doctoral degrees, and 10 hold master’s degrees. In addition, there is 1 retired chief physician re-employed by the department.

The academic leader, He Juan, female, holds a master’s degree in medicine and is a chief physician and director of the department. She concurrently serves as an expert on the Expert Group of the Second Term of the National Clinical Nutrition Program of the National Health Commission, a standing member of the Clinical Nutrition Branch of the Chinese Nutrition Society, a member of the Parenteral Nutrition Committee of the Professional Committee of Nutrition Physicians of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, deputy chairwoman of the Fifth Clinical Nutrition Professional Committee of the Shandong Nutrition Society, a member of the Perinatal and Infant Subspecialty Committee of the Clinical Nutrition Physicians Branch of the Shandong Medical Doctor Association, a standing member of the Professional Committee of Nutrition Physicians of the Shandong Medical Doctor Association, a member of the Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Branch of the Shandong Medical Association, a member of the Critical Care Nutrition Group of the Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Branch of the Shandong Medical Association, a member of the Multidisciplinary Joint Committee on Enhanced Recovery After Orthopedic Surgery of the Shandong Medical Association, deputy director of the Shandong Clinical Nutrition Quality Control Center, and director of the Qingdao Clinical Nutrition Quality Control Center. She has published more than 10 papers in influential core journals in China and abroad, led 4 research projects, served as chief editor or contributing editor of more than 10 books, and holds several invention patents.

At present, the department has a team of highly educated professionals, including individuals with master’s and doctoral degrees.

3. Professional Features

(1) A clinical nutrition outpatient clinic has been established to provide medical nutrition therapy for patients with obesity, perinatal nutrition needs, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer-related nutritional needs, malnutrition, diabetes mellitus, gout, chronic kidney disease, liver disease, and after gastrointestinal surgery, as well as nutritional counseling services for people with suboptimal health. This has played a major role in helping patients and people with suboptimal health recover and promote their health.

(2) In February 2025, in response to the national Weight Management Year initiative, the department participated in the hospital-organized Weight Management Center to help patients lose weight safely, nutritiously, and scientifically. With “health and weight loss” as the theme, it guided the restaurant in carrying out targeted weight-loss initiatives, including nutrition promotion, placement of body-fat scales, and the establishment of light-meal, health-preserving, and weight-loss meal areas, which both comply with nutritional standards and meet requirements for taste and variety.

(3) In cooperation with the Department of Obstetrics, a joint outpatient clinic for gestational diabetes mellitus was established to provide dietary guidance and weight management for pregnant women with high-risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus and pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus, effectively improving maternal blood glucose levels and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

(3) In cooperation with the Department of Endocrinology, a joint diabetes outpatient clinic was established to provide medical nutrition therapy for patients with prediabetes and diabetes mellitus, achieving very good results in preventing and delaying diabetic complications.

(4) Dietary management for inpatients: one-on-one dietary guidance is provided for inpatients who require therapeutic diets, and individualized meal plans are developed. Good nutritional therapeutic effects have been achieved in steadily controlling blood glucose in patients with diabetes mellitus and delaying disease progression in patients with chronic renal insufficiency, among other areas.

(5) The department has also established the following specialized disease outpatient clinics: Obesity Specialty Outpatient Clinic, Pediatric Obesity Outpatient Clinic, Weight Gain Outpatient Clinic, Perinatal Nutrition Specialty Outpatient Clinic, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Specialty Outpatient Clinic, Cancer Nutrition Specialty Outpatient Clinic, etc.

4. Scientific Research and Teaching

Our department received the Third Prize of the Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Award (2014), the Third Prize of the Qingdao Natural Science Award (2012), the Second Prize of the Qingdao Science and Technology Award (2011), the Third Prize of the Qingdao Science and Technology Progress Award (2012), and the Third Prize of the Outstanding Scientific Research Achievements of Shandong Higher Education Institutions (2011); in 2015, it became the lead institution responsible for chairing the Qingdao Clinical Nutrition Quality Control Center. Over the past five years, the department has published more than 30 academic papers in core journals in China and abroad, undertaken more than 10 research projects, published more than 10 books, and obtained nearly 10 invention patents. It has been approved as a teaching base for medical nutrition-based weight loss for 10 consecutive years. It participates in PBL teaching for undergraduate clinical medicine students. It participates in health manager training. It contributed to the compilation of the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Obesity (2024 Edition). In 2025, it was approved as a technical institution for the verification and evaluation of special foods and has carried out multiple clinical trial studies of special foods.

5. Guidelines for Medical Visits

(1) Department Location

Shinan Campus: 4th floor of the Outpatient Building, Consulting Room 22

West Coast Campus: 2nd floor of the Outpatient Building

Laoshan Campus: 2nd floor of the Outpatient Department

(2) Consultation Telephone Numbers

Shinan Campus: 82911750

Laoshan Campus: 82913550

West Coast Campus: 82919050