Describing the Roles and Responsibilities of Nutrition Staff and Nutrition Care Policies in Acute Care Facilities

Using the results from a survey of 101 acute care facilities, this article describes the roles of nutrition professionals and nutrition care policies. The most common roles for clinical nutrition managers were policy development and monitoring for quality care (>98%); nutrition and dietetic technicians, registered were most commonly involved in patient education (93%). Responsibility for nutrition screening varies, with nurses and registered dietitian nutritionists most frequently involved. The plurality of facilities (48%) requires a nutrition assessment within 2 days of positive screening. These data illuminate standard nutrition practices in acute care facilities and can be used for comparisons between facilities and over time.