Nutrition

Yueyang Hospital's Nutrition Department, formerly the nutrition room, was founded in 1976 and provides clinical nutrition treatment, research and teaching. Its seven nutrition professionals include one doctorate, three master's and one bachelor's degree holder; one has a senior and six intermediate professional titles. For inpatients it screens nutritional risk, assesses and treats nutrition, provides consultations and education, and helps the patient kitchen provide four basic diets, 25 therapeutic diets and tube feeds with quality oversight. It also develops nutrition quality units in nephrology and neurology and uses nutrition labels to make nutrition treatment visible. Since 2015 the outpatient clinic has offered disease and dietary counseling and individualized nutrition care, including medical weight management and care for kidney disease, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, cancer and gout. Its equipment includes body composition analysis, model foods, a skinfold caliper, electronic hand dynamometer and height/weight measurement. The department is a member unit of Shanghai's clinical nutrition quality-control expert committee, a teaching practice base of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine's School of Public Health, and a pilot unit for the 2018 national guide to nutrition and dietetics department development and management. Specialized care: (1) For eligible people with overweight or obesity, staff assess metabolism and organ function, make individualized weight-management plans and follow patients regularly. The hospital states that this aims to reduce fat, increase muscle and lower obesity-related organ risks. (2) For chronic kidney disease, individualized energy, protein and nutrient intake is planned according to the condition and degree of renal impairment to support treatment. (3) For diabetes, plans consider illness, medicines, glucose fluctuations and exercise, including total energy, food choice and meal distribution; the hospital says these aim to improve glucose control and nutrition and prevent complications. (4) For cancer, nutritional risk is screened and a plan tailored to tumor site, type and symptoms; the hospital says this aims to improve nutritional status, immunity, tolerance of cancer treatment and quality of life.