Annual Report 2020

Nutrition Management Office

Hayato Tsuchiya, Aya Omae, Hiroko Abe, Sachiko Seki, Hideki Funakoshi, Akiko Onozawa, Saki Hoshino, Hitomi Ikeda, Aki Kasamatsu, Yasushi Ogaki, Nobuyuki Hirose, Satoru Suzuki, Masato Fujii

Introduction

 Nutritional counseling at the Patient Support Research and Development Center has been enriched by multi-occupational collaboration and we are able to respond promptly to sudden requests at any time.

 The number of nutritional counseling sessions from April 2020 to March 2021 increased after an aggressive response to outpatient nutritional diet guidance during the esophageal cancer perioperative period. Group nutrition dietary guidance for inpatients after colorectal cancer and EMR surgery and outpatient nutrition classes have also been well received by users.

 The Nutrition Support Team (NST) had 1,226 new interventions, with a monthly average of 102 (Table 1). The Nutrition Management Office provided 420,645 meals in total. The number of nutritional counseling sessions was 2,779, and group guidance was 337 cases.

Table 1. Number of NST consultations

Research activities

 We conduct research on improving the nutrition and dietary environment of cancer patients aiming to disseminate information such as proposals of menu preparations for home care patients, and hints for preventing malnutrition.

 Collaborative research continues to improve the precision of meal support in accordance with changes in the meal preferences of cancer patients.

Education

 We accepted trainees from 8 training schools (8 schools; 9 groups) for registered dietitians and provided practical training that was performed in cooperation with universities as part of human resource development. Usually, we have training sessions for the NST specialized therapist for in-hospital and out-hospital staff, but this year it was canceled due to COVID-19 infection control. We actively participated in lectures inside and outside the hospital and conducted educational activities on cancer treatment and nutrition.

Future Prospects

 In the food service, thorough hygiene control and the provision of safe meals are given top priority.

 We strive to provide a variety of foods to improve the menu. In addition, we strive to provide new meals that incorporate local cuisine. We aim to provide effective nutritional management and nutrition counseling services, to achieve improved treatment outcomes, as well as enhance vital prognosis and patients’ QOL.