Dietitians Responding to the Need

Dietitians provide medical nutritional therapy and are a vital member of multidisciplinary teams. During COVID-19 their roles have also been stretched beyond the clinical duties alone, as they have been working with the awesome logistics / purchasing team to ensure that they have what they need to provide that important nutrition to our patients.

Many COVID-19 patients are on mechanical ventilators to provide oxygen to their lungs. They cannot eat or drink with a breathing tube, but still need proper nutrition and hydration so they can fight the infection and survive. The nutrition provided to these patients in the first week of critical care can permanently affect their quality of life for months or years to come. These patients have very complex nutritional needs and the dietitian must assess each patient’s nutritional status and provide that nutrition through feeding tubes or directly into the vein.

As a result of the critical illness associated with COVID, patients are losing a lot of weight despite adequate nutrition. This is mostly loss of muscle and it will impair the patient’s ability to function and do everyday activities, thus nutrition is vital to support recovery. The only way to regain that muscle is physical activity and proper nutrition — and that recovery will take many months or years post illness.

Dietitians also implement nutritional care plans for COVID positive patients during their admission and also “nutrition care packages” to support them after discharge. These provide sample oral nutritional supplements and information on how to access food in Ottawa during COVID-19, as well as simple meal and snack ideas.

Our outpatient dietitian has been following chronic disease patients by telephone and OTN. She follows up after discharge to help transition patients back into the community quickly and safely. One of our patients referred to the dietitians as “angels from heaven.” Another patient commented “this just seals the deal that the people in the hospital made sure I was so well taken care of — and the care package and information provided in relation to post COVID nutrition is being followed and helping me to feel better.” All of the patients have been very appreciative of the care received at QCH and the nutritional support after discharge. This warms our hearts and brings a smile to our faces during this challenging time, in knowing that we are doing our part to help these patients.

The Dietitian team - pre-COVID