Section 340.1910 Diet Orders

Section 340

Section 340.1910  Diet Orders

a)         Two or more copies of a current diet manual shall be available

and in use.  One copy shall be located in the kitchen for use by dietary

personnel. Other copies shall be located at each nurses' station for use by

physicians when prescribing diets.

b)         Physicians shall write a diet order, in the medical record,

for each resident indicating whether the resident is to have a general or a

therapeutic diet. The diet shall be served as ordered.

c)         A written diet order shall be sent to the food service

department when each resident is admitted and each time that the resident's

diet is changed. Each change shall be ordered by the physician.  The diet order

shall include, at a minimum, the following information:  name of resident, room

and bed number, type of diet, consistency if other than regular consistency,

date diet order is sent to dietary, name of physician ordering the diet, and

the signature of the person transmitting the order to the food service

department.

d)         The resident shall be observed to determine acceptance of the

diet, and these observations shall be recorded in the medical record.

e)         A therapeutic diet means a diet ordered by the physician as

part of a treatment for a disease or clinical condition, to eliminate or

decrease certain substances in the diet (e.g., sodium) or to increase certain

substances in the diet (e.g., potassium), or to provide food in a form that the

resident is able to eat (e.g., mechanically altered diet).

f)         All therapeutic diets shall be medically prescribed and shall

be planned or approved by a dietitian.

g)         The kinds and variations of prescribed therapeutic diets shall

be available in the kitchen.  If separate menus are not planned for each

specific diet, diet information for each specific type, in a form easily understood

by staff, shall be available in a convenient location in the kitchen.

h)         All oral liquid diets shall be reviewed every 48 hours

ed or approved by a dietitian.

g)         The kinds and variations of prescribed therapeutic diets shall

be available in the kitchen.  If separate menus are not planned for each

specific diet, diet information for each specific type, in a form easily understood

by staff, shall be available in a convenient location in the kitchen.

h)         All oral liquid diets shall be reviewed every 48 hours.

Medical soft diets, sometimes known as transitional diets, shall be reviewed

every three weeks. All other therapeutic and mechanically altered diets,

including commercially  prepared formulas that are in liquid form and

blenderized liquid diets, shall be reviewed as needed, or at least every three

months.