Data regarding professional communications between physicians
and dietitians in hospitals were obtained from results of 84
responses to a survey of all hospital dietitians (135) listed in the
1982 Oregon Dietetic Associations' Membership and Employment Directory.
The data were gathered utilizing an initial mail-out questionnaire
and a follow-up log booklet of communications with physicians
kept during five working days. The population studied was characterized
as being all women between the ages of 24 and 63, with more than
50 percent under the age of 32 years. Seventy-two percent of the
dietitians worked full time and seventy percent were in the clinical
division of practice in The American Dietetic Association. All of
the dietitians were active members of The American Dietetic Association.
A data analysis indicated that 38% of the dietitians communicated
with physicians less than every other day, and most frequently
these communications were reported to be through patient charts in reference to dietary prescriptions. Seventy-six percent of the dietitians indicated that 30% or less of the physicians on the medical
staff consistently made referrals for nutrition counseling. The most
frequently referring specialists included those in internal medicine,
general practice and surgery. There appeared to be no specific age
group of physicians referring more frequently than others. Sixty-five
percent of the dietitians indicated that they felt that their
communications with physicians were inadequate. Sixty percent of the
dietitians felt that their nutrition expertise was utilized by physicians
only "fairly well". Less than half of the dietitians participated
in interdisciplinary medical team efforts. Significant correlations
(p < .05) were found among various factors involving communications
between dietitians and physicians when tested using chi
square. In general, dietitians in hospitals with more than 200 beds
more often considered their communications with physicians to be adequate
than dietitians in smaller hospitals. A larger percentage of
physicians (> 50%) in hospitals with more than 200 beds had a positive
attitude about nutrition. More dietitians in larger hospitals
participated in interdisciplinary medical team efforts than those in
smaller hospitals. Of the dietitians indicating that their communications
with physicians were adequate 61% felt their nutrition
expertise was utilized "very well" and 50% had verbal contact with
physicians from one to three times daily. When the physician was the
initiator of communications, none of the dietitians felt that their
nutrition expertise was utilized "very well". When the physician was the initiator of communications, less than 10% of these were in reference to general nutrition information.
Recommendations from the study to improve communications between
physicians and dietitians include required assertiveness training
courses for dietitians, nutrition courses for physicians and a study
of dietitians' utilization of time and their perceived priorities. / Graduation date: 1984
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/26181 |
| Date | 30 June 1983 |
| Creators | Hood, Julie Ford |
| Contributors | Johnson, Elizabeth |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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