“Legislation implementing the nutrition care process will ensure that all patients receive appropriate nutrition care as a standard protocol, leading to improved patient outcomes, shorter hospital stays and reduced health care costs.”
Good nutrition is a fundamental pillar of health and well-being.
It plays a vital role in a patient’s recovery and contributes greatly to the healing process.
Department of Health Executive Order 2019-0033 outlines the Nutrition Care Process, a systematic approach to providing high-quality nutrition care essential to the prevention, treatment, and management of disease.
Nutrition is essential to a patient’s recovery for several reasons.
First, it aids in healing: Proper nutrition supplies your body with vitamins and minerals essential for tissue repair and regeneration.
Secondly, it helps reduce the risk of infection. A well-nourished body has a stronger immune system, which means it can fight off infections more effectively.
Finally, proper nutrition helps you maintain weight and strength, which is essential for recovery and overall health.
However, despite its importance, patient nutrition is often neglected in clinical practice.
Many patients, even those who were well nourished when they entered hospital, experience a decline in nutritional status during their hospital stay.
This highlights the need for a systematic approach to nutrition care, such as a nutrition care process.
At a recent roundtable discussion, “Strengthening Nutrition Integration in Health Systems: Assessing the Philippine Nutrition Care Process,” co-hosted by the StratBase Institute and Universal Healthcare Watch, health experts unanimously agreed that providing adequate nutrition is key to speeding up hospitalized patients’ recovery and reducing hospital stays and overall health care costs.
The forum brought together a diverse range of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health, the Nutrition and Dietetics Committee of the Professional Regulatory Commission, health professionals, academics, civil society organisations and patient advocacy groups.
In his opening remarks, Stratbase Group chief operating officer Rupert Paul Manhit cited a June 2023 Pulse Asia survey that revealed health and avoiding illness was the most pressing personal concern for 67 percent of Filipinos.
“Nutrition is crucial to achieving economic security. At a basic level, poverty is one of the biggest causes of undernutrition, which will be further exacerbated by the upward trend in food inflation in 2024,” Manhit said.
Dr. Emy Lisa Perez Chiong, Undersecretary for Health Regulation and Institutional Development at the Department of Health, highlighted the mandate of the Nutrition and Dietetics Act, which requires the provision of medical nutritional therapy to patients through the nutrition care process.
According to protocols set forth in Department of Health Executive Order 2019-0033, patients must undergo nutrition screening by a registered nurse upon admission, and patients who require nutritional therapy will be referred for evaluation by a registered dietitian.
Burges Buena, chair of the PRC’s Nutrition and Dietetics Committee, highlighted the vital role that RNDs play in assessing patients’ nutritional needs.
“RND incorporates a broader concept of health and the notion of using food as medicine to prevent and treat disease,” Buena explained.
However, implementation challenges were raised, including insufficient administrative support, inadequate training, resource and personnel constraints, communication gaps, and overlap with other health professionals.
Dr. Jose Rodolfo Dimano Jr. from the Abbott Center for Malnutrition Solutions highlighted the need for collaboration between different health professionals and how the private sector can contribute in generating data to assist decision-makers.
“We believe that nutrition is of course a human right, so every patient in the hospital has the right to have nutritional intervention,” Dr. DiMa’ano said.
Dr. Aguedo “Troy” Gepte IV, who authored a policy paper commissioned by the StratBase Institute to evaluate the integration of NCPs into the Philippine health system, raised the need for legislation to ensure the implementation and institutionalization of a more comprehensive strategy for educational programs and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Dr. Gabrielle Ann Dela Paz, Director of Policy, Planning and Program Development at the Ministry of Health’s Health Facilities Development Agency (https://www.facebook.com/groups/119352242018806/-Tran), explained that the NCP should be seen as an investment, not an additional expense.
It has the potential to reduce patient hospital stays, hospital costs and ease hospital congestion.
The concept of “food is medicine” emphasizes the importance of incorporating nutrition into healthcare, serving as a therapeutic tool in maintaining health and treating disease.
Legislation implementing the nutrition care process would ensure that all patients, regardless of economic status, receive proper nutrition care as standard protocol, leading to improved patient outcomes, shorter hospital stays, and reduced healthcare costs.
