Background: Food and nutrition play an essential role in human health. Evidence-based research supports the important role of dietitians providing medical nutrition therapy for the prevention, management and treatment of many diseases and conditions. Officially recognized in 1951, dietitians (formerly dietary nurses) have an important history in the Czech Republic. Aim: This narrative review aims to examine the history of nutrition care in the Czech Republic and identify future opportunities for the development and contributions of dietitians. We include information about education, relevant legislation, licensure, scope of practice, the current workforce, and existing professional organizations. The article provides an assessment of the opportunities for the future development and professionalization of dietitians. Methodology: We used licensed, electronic databases PUBMED, CINAHL, EBSCO, MEDVIK to search the professional literature as well as hand searching publications in both the Czech and English languages including current legislation and statistical information. Results: Formal dietetics training has progressed from the preparation of therapeutic meals to university level programs offering science-based training with supervised clinical practice to prepare bachelor’s and master’s level dietitians. As a nationally recognized profession there are three professional associations supporting more than 2,500 dietitians in the Czech Republic. Despite these developments, the advancement of the profession remains inadequate due to a limited scope of practice, wide variation in education amongst dietitians, no requirements for licensure and underutilized competencies. Conclusion: Despite the long history and development of this profession, dietitians in the Czech Republic remain an underutilized resource to provide a wide variety of nutrition services. Thus, in an effort to expand their scope of practice and improve nutrition care, further research is needed within the Czech Republic to demonstrate their essential role in the prevention, treatment and management of many diseases.
Background: Food and nutrition play an essential role in human health. Evidence-based research supports the important role of dietitians providing medical nutrition therapy for the prevention, management and treatment of many diseases and conditions. Officially recognized in 1951, dietitians (formerly dietary nurses) have an important history in the Czech Republic. Aim: This narrative review aims to examine the history of nutrition care in the Czech Republic and identify future opportunities for the development and contributions of dietitians. We include information about education, relevant legislation, licensure, scope of practice, the current workforce, and existing professional organizations. The article provides an assessment of the opportunities for the future development and professionalization of dietitians. Methodology: We used licensed, electronic databases PUBMED, CINAHL, EBSCO, MEDVIK to search the professional literature as well as hand searching publications in both the Czech and English languages including current legislation and statistical information. Results: Formal dietetics training has progressed from the preparation of therapeutic meals to university level programs offering science-based training with supervised clinical practice to prepare bachelor’s and master’s level dietitians. As a nationally recognized profession there are three professional associations supporting more than 2,500 dietitians in the Czech Republic. Despite these developments, the advancement of the profession remains inadequate due to a limited scope of practice, wide variation in education amongst dietitians, no requirements for licensure and underutilized competencies. Conclusion: Despite the long history and development of this profession, dietitians in the Czech Republic remain an underutilized resource to provide a wide variety of nutrition services. Thus, in an effort to expand their scope of practice and improve nutrition care, further research is needed within the Czech Republic to demonstrate their essential role in the prevention, treatment and management of many diseases.
Základním terapeutickým nástrojem v případě potravinových alergií je eliminační dieta. Vyloučení některých skupin potravin však může pro pacienta znamenat vysoké nutriční riziko s ohledem na snížení přívodu některých živin, zejména mikronutrientů. Tomuto riziku lze předejít spoluprací s nutričním terapeutem. Ten se může podílet na diagnostice, sběru antropometrických dat a zejména na edukaci pacienta v oblastech sestavení bezpečné a plnohodnotné diety, rizikových potravin či čtení potravinových obalů. Zároveň může pomocí nutričního softwaru zhodnotit přívod mikronutrientů a případně doporučit suplementaci. Spolupráce alergologa a nutričního terapeuta však v českém prostředí není běžná. Proto Česká asociace nutričních terapeutů a Pracovní skupina potravinové alergie připravuje standard, který by měl zajistit všem pacientům s potravinovou alergií adekvátní nutriční péči.
The essential means of food allergy therapy is the elimination diet. However, the exclusion of some food groups could pose a nutrition risk to the patient, mainly in terms of a limited intake of micronutrients. This can be prevented by cooperating with a dietitian. The dietitian can take part in diagnosis, anthropometrical data collection and mainly in the education of the patient in terms of safe and nutritionally adequate diet, risky foods, or food labelling. The dietitian can also use a nutrition software to assess the intake of micronutrients. However, the liaison of allergists and dietitians is not frequent in the Czech Republic. For this reason, the Czech Association of Dietitians, together with the Food Allergy Workgroup, is currently working on a guideline in an effort to guarantee an adequate nutrition care for all the food allergy patients.
- MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mezioborová komunikace MeSH
- nutriční poradci normy organizace a řízení trendy MeSH
- potravinová alergie dietoterapie terapie MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- MeSH
- kongresy jako téma MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- nutriční poradci organizace a řízení využití MeSH
- nutriční terapie MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
