dietitian online

Writing this blog motivates me to regularly prune and update my collection of basic tools, and if they are in a book, see if there is a web-based version of the same or better quality.

Today as I was recording lab values for my tube feeding patients, I decided to look for online interpretation tools. I really like the Merck Manual’s chapter on Fluid and Electrolyte Metabolism. The information is well-organized and explained clearly and concisely.

Here is the link to the Introduction. You can navigate to other pages by clicking on the topics (e.g., water and sodium balance)  listed at the top of each web page.

This guide on converting conventional units to Système International d’Unités (SI) or international units (IU) also would be useful to refer to when reading the literature.

 (This supplements yesterday’s post on food allergy resources.)

Dietitians of Canada’s PEN also has 3 full knowledge pathways on food allergies with up-to-date resources such as the May 2007 Current Issues article on Food Allergy in Adults.  Note: you need to be a subscriber to access PEN.

Today I’m posting some of the web resources on food allergy I consulted — some familiar, others new to me — while updating our hospital’s menu-specific list of food allowed/not allowed on allergy diets.

Dial-A-Dietitian’s food allergy links

Dietitians of Canada’s Fact Sheet on Food Sensititivies

What is a food allergy? (concise factsheet from the Food Safety Network)

Health Canada Food Labeling

Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s page on Food Allergens

Allergy/Asthma Information Association

Have you checked out MD Consult recently? Ever? If you haven’t, you may want to do so. The site recently enhanced its user interface and search features. I like the changes and find searching and reading results quicker and easier to process.

So far today, I have used MD Consult to find background information on vitamin B12 deficiency and central venous catheters, topics pertinent to the nutritional assessment of two of my patients.  One of the best features is My Folder, which you can set up easily. You can then save articles to your folder so you don’t have to repeat searches.

That’s not a typo (”E” instead of “A”) in the title. ESPEN is the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. If you are a dietitian practicing in Canada or the US, you are probably more familiar with resources from A.S.P.E.N., the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.

Access to these ESPEN resources is free and does not require membership.  I quickly scanned  some guidelines relevant to my area of practice and the resources seem to be high quality and useful so I’m adding them to my toolkit in the sidebar.

Link to ESPEN guidelines and position papers

Both pages are on the Health Canada Web site, but I wanted to create direct links for quick reference:

1. Natural Health Products 
Follow links from this page for information on:

• regulation 
• safe use (facts for the consumer)
• research

2. Canada’s Food Guide — Educators’ & Communicators’ resource

I have just added two new links to the Dietitian’s Toolkit:

• Canadian Nutrient File
• DRIs

The toolkit is getting a bit cluttered so I may need to divide it into primary tools (used frequently) and secondary tools (important but used less often).

Yesterday I was talking about cookbooks, a comfy-cozy topic for a very rainy Sunday afternoon. Today, Monday and back to work at the hospital, I want to share my trusted and frequently-consulted medical reference:  MD Consult.

MD Consult is a large site with many tabs and pages so you may need to invest some time up front learning the navigation. This pays off, though, because there is wealth of information on diagnosis, therapy, practice guidelines and more from textbooks, journals and clinics series. If you register, you also can save your searches in a personal folder, a very useful feature that saves paper and filespace. Oh, perhaps the best feature: MD Consult is free.

Well, my blogging stats are now 1 for 6…as in1 post for 6 days of Nutrition Month. I have some catching up to do if I want to make 31 posts by March 31st. I currently have a few rough drafts that I will polish and publish over the next couple of days. The topics vary from clinical to global/environmental.

Today I’m posting a link to this recently-published position statement/practice guideline, which includes sections on lifestyle modifications for cardiovascular health:
Canadian Cardiovascular Society position statement - Recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of dyslipidemia and the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

In the sidebar, I’ve added a new category that I will continue to build: Dietitian’s Toolkit. Here I will place resources that the acute care dietitian may need to refer to on a regular (daily to several times weekly) basis.