Section 344-2-1 - DefinitionsA. Nutrition Assessment. Nutrition Assessment means a comprehensive process for defining nutrition status using medical, nutrition, and medication intake histories, physical examination, anthropomorphic measurements, and laboratory data. 1. All dietetic technicians shall be supervised by a licensed dietitian while practicing dietetics. The supervising dietitian shall develop criteria and screening tools with reevaluation protocols to determine the individual's nutritional risk.2. Dietetic technicians may administer the screening tools and follow the reevaluation protocols as determined by the supervising dietitian.3. It is the responsibility of the supervising dietitian to ensure that the supervision is adequate.B. Nutrition Screening. Nutrition screening means the process of identifying characteristics known to be associated with nutrition problems in order to determine if patients are malnourished or at high nutrition risk for malnourishment. Screening facilitates effective intervention. 1. Screening requiring clinical judgment is a tool used to determine nutritional risk and requires licensure.2. Screening not requiring clinical judgment is a tool predicated solely upon quantification and does not require licensure.C. Nutrition Care. Nutrition care means interventions and counseling of individuals to promote appropriate nutrition intake, based on nutrition assessment and information about food, other sources of nutrients, and meal preparation consistent with the patient's cultural background and socioeconomic status. Nutrition therapy, a component of medical treatment, includes enteral and parenteral nutrition.D. Medical Nutrition Therapy. Medical Nutrition Therapy involves the assessment of the nutritional status of patients with a condition, illness, or injury that puts them at risk. This includes review and analysis of medical and diet history, laboratory values, and anthropometric measurements. Based on the assessment, nutrition modalities most appropriate to manage the condition or treat the illness or injury are chosen and include the following: Diet modification and counseling leading to the development of a personal diet plan to achieve nutritional goals and desired health outcomes.
Specialized nutrition therapies including supplementation with medical foods for those unable to obtain adequate nutrients through food intake only: enteral nutrition delivered via tube feeding into the gastrointestinal tract for those unable to ingest or digest food, and parenteral nutrition delivered via intravenous infusion for those unable to absorb nutrients.