Nashville Conference Buzz: Redefining malnutrition

Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of posts showcasing speakers at the 6th Annual ACDIS conference in Nashville, May 21-23. Trey La Charité, MD, and Jane White, PhD, RD, FADA, LDN, will kick off Track 1, Pathophysiology, on Tuesday, May 21, at 10:45 a.m., with the presentation “Understanding and implementing the new definition of malnutrition.”

ACDIS: Tell us how you got into CDI. 

TL: I was tired of running codes during my residency on other services’ patients who had been in the hospital for two weeks but nothing was written in the chart.  How do you successfully resuscitate a patient whom you know nothing about?  We do our patients a tremendous disservice when there is not adequate documentation of their medical state available.

ACDIS: What is biggest challenge preparing to speak for ACDIS and getting your topic ready? 

TL: Since lab values were suddenly considered inadequate for making the diagnosis of malnutrition, the biggest challenge, for us at our facility, was coming to the realization that we were probably never going to get a busy clinician to take the history or do the physical exam and assessment now required to capture the diagnosis.  Physicians will comply with a new directive if they perceive it as being time neutral to their daily routine.  Add something that is going to extend their day at the hospital and they are not likely going to cooperate.

ACDIS: How will your ACDIS presentation help attendees with obtaining the needed clinical documentation for malnutrition? 

TL: First, the lead author of the the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (the Academy) and the American Society for Parental and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) consensus statement which was publishes in May 2012 Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics will discuss why the new definition was needed and explain the exact components of it contains.

Then, we will give a detailed case example of how we were able to successfully implement the adoption of the new definition at an academic medical center.

ACDIS: Tell us something about yourself that we can share with ACDIS attendees?

TL: Before medical school, I went to graduate school and studied both Ichthyology (the study of fish) and Behavioral Ecology. My daughters and I have a 125-gallon fish tank that we stock only with fish that we catch in the local lakes, ponds, and streams.

ACDIS Note: Dr. La Charité,will also present the two-day pre-conference “The Physician Advisor’s Role in CDI: A collaborative approach for success,” with James S. Kennedy, MD, CCS.