Telephone nutrition counselling improves client access to registered dietitians and the health promoting information and support they provide.
Until April 2017.
Telehealth delivers better health outcomes
•Dietitians are trained in behaviour change theories and motivational interviewing, both facilitate telephone counselling
•Telephone counselling delivered by dietitians, as part of a nutrition intervention, leads to better health outcomes such as:
- increased fruit and vegetable intake- decreased total and saturated fat intake- decreased energy intake- improved blood sugar control for people with
diabetes- weight loss and decreased body mass index- decreased waist circumference- decreased prevalence of metabolic syndrome
•Telephone counselling provided by a registered dietitian is an effective component of interventions aimed at improving dietary habits, weight loss and both diabetes and metabolic syndrome management.
The Facts
•Telephone sessions have been used successfully for patient education, self management training, goal setting, resolving behaviour change barriers, reinforcement, encouragement, and rapport building
•In one study, participants who received telephone counselling were more than twice as likely to meet national diet and physical activity guidelines than participants who received written materials. Dietary behaviour changes persisted six months after the intervention was delivered
•Telephone counselling can be easily adapted to meet individual needs and organizational constraints
•Shorter but more frequent appointments may help build rapport and improve health outcomes and it’s cost-effective
•Research indicates that 95% of patients were satisfied with telephone support and benefited from weekly telephone check-ins
•Highly effective dietary interventions have been successfully adapted for phone delivery.
Dietitians promote healththrough food and nutrition
Dietitians in TelehealthBetter Health • Better Care • Better Value
@dietitiansCAN /dietitiansCAN www.dietitians.ca
Collaborative. Evidence-based
Evidenced Based PracticeDietitians translate complex scientific evidence into practical solutions to promote health and manage special health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, allergies and obesity.
Collaborative approachDietitians are valuable members of the health care team, working collaboratively with other health care professionals including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, and speech language pathologists.
Dietitians individualize information, care plans, and programs to meet the unique needs of clients and communities.
Regulated health professionalsDietitians are regulated health professionals. The title ‘dietitian’ is protected by law, just like physician, nurse and pharmacist. Nutritionist is not a protected title – that means anyone can use it.*
You can identify a dietitian by the initials RD or PDt after their name. To use these titles, the dietitian must meet and maintain provincial registration requirements.
*except in Alberta, Quebec and Nova Scotia**except in Quebec
Dietitians work in diverse roles and environments
Dietitians work in the community, health care, food services and private practice as:
Practitioners: specializing in working with individuals and groups to improve eating habits and address the nutritional needs of people with complex health problems to improve health outcomes
Policy Makers: advising government at all levels on population health strategies and regulatory measures
Leaders: in all aspects of food systems, including food security and sustainability, food service management, production and marketing
Knowledge Brokers: conducting research, answering questions and translating science into best practices
Educators: of health professionals, school teachers, fitness instructors and future dietetic professionals
University-educatedDietitians are university educated with at least 1250 hours of supervised, hands-on training in food systems, disease management, population health, communications and counselling. They must pass a registration exam to become a regulated health professional.**
Ongoing professional development is not only a core value but a requirement.
