Third-year Sioux Falls Family Practice residents, Drs. Stephan L. Chesley, Tim S. Mulder, Nanci Van Peursem, and Mary Schwieters have recently completed their Clinical Nutrition Rotation. The overall goals of the curriculum for residents are to increase their competence to assess, manage, and intervene in the nutritional aspects of medical problems and to counsel patients on diet for prevention and treatment of disease.

The resident nutrition curriculum emphasizes applied skills, interactive teaching, and the presence of physician and nutritionist role models who demonstrated clinical nutrition skills as a component of comprehensive assessment and patient care. Active learning included nutrition assessment of patients, utilization of computer assisted dietary and activity analysis, follow-up counseling with patients, and interactions with various nutritional professionals.

The scope of the experience included case studies in the long-term care facility and nutrition assessment meetings with Judy Kneip, M.S., RD, LN, at Good Samaritan Village. Dialysis education and a review of options, renal dialysis technologies, and the advantages of early referral was provided by Janice Mitchell, M.S., RD, McKennan Hospital Renal Support. Georgia Larson, RD, LN, Clinical Nutrition Manager at Sioux Valley Hospital Nutrition Support Team provided instruction in swallowing dysphasia, tube feeding calculations and assessment, DASH diet review, and cardiac rehabilitation nutrition. Ken Johnson, M.P.H., RD, CDE, LN, Chief of Nutrition and Food Services and Sharon Johnson, RD, LN, CHE, Outpatient Clinical Dietitian at the VA Hospital provided information on outpatient diabetes management. Certification and basic nutrition life cycle issues, infancy, children less than five years of age, children with economic problems, review of advantages of breast feeding and use of available formulas was provided by Beth Honerman, RD, LN of the WIC Program. Roger A Shewmake, Ph.D., LN coordinated the rotation, provided didactic conferences discussing the importance of the use and function of diet manuals, case studies, computer assisted dietary analysis experiences, and an introduction to patient education methods and materials.