2017 Volume 22 Issue 1 Pages 25-35
Japan faces issues associated with a super-aging society. Thus, extension of healthy life expectancy of patients through dietary modification is extremely important. However, the number of registered dietitians is not enough to improve the nutritional health of patients with personalized nutrition care because of the lack of profit from hospital nutrition divisions. We clarified the strategies to gain profit and relevant challenges by using the SWOT analysis to improve the dietary department of hospital subject to intervention. Data gathered indicate that the charge for subsidies for providing therapeutic diet, and nutrition and meal counseling should be increased. The results indicated that the cost of subsidies for providing therapeutic diet and nutrition and meal counseling should be increased. The results also suggested the necessity of reducing tasks with opportunity losses. A hospital with the system newly established has already realized the benefits of the measures implemented through the system. The system supports patients to take in the appropriate nutrients by increasing the number of registered dieticians and calculating the estimated energy requirement from the actual measurements of resting energy expenditure for personalized nutrition care.
