Influence of dietitian presence on outpatient cardiac rehabilitation nutrition services.
To describe variations in nutrition services offered in a nationally representative sample of out-patient cardiac rehabilitation programs by presence of a registered dietitian (RD), a survey was conducted of 250 randomly selected centers from 1,111 US outpatient cardiac rehabilitation centers in the 1998/1999 Cardiac Rehabilitation Directory of the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. A total of 190 of the 250 surveys (76%) were returned. Nutrition services offered by programs polled included distribution of nutrition pamphlets, one-on-one nutrition counseling, group nutrition classes, guest lectures on nutrition, and cooking demonstrations. Cardiac rehabilitation programs with an RD offered significantly more nutrition services on average (4.2+/-1.2) than programs without an RD (3.5+/-1.1, P=.01). Programs with RDs were more likely to offer one-on-one nutrition counseling than programs without them (98% and 80% respectively, P<.001), and they were also more likely to offer cooking demonstrations (43% and 17% respectively, P=.02). More, and a greater variety of, nutrition services are offered in cardiac rehabilitation programs that have an RD. Without an RD, exercise physiologists and registered nurses often provide some, but fewer and different, nutrition services.
Cavallaro
Vanessa
V
Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Nutrition and Physical Activity Unit, Massachusetts Partnership for Healthy Weight, Cambridge, 02139, USA. vcavallaro@hotmail.com
Dwyer
Johanna
J
Houser
Robert Francis
RF
Shores
Kevin
K
Cañez
Isabel
I
Hong
Annie
A
Altman
Kimberly
K
Helmick
Elaine
E
Murphy
Jennifer Noonan
JN
D003296:Cooking / Q000379:methods; D003376:Counseling; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D004046:Dietetics; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D052756:Nutritional Sciences / Q000193:education*; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires