With changes in medical policies in Taiwan, the demand of subjects for home care is rapidly increasing. However, this population is at risk of malnutrition because of limited medical care available outside hospitals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore and identify the adaptability of training courses for dietitians who administer home-care nutritional services. Those licensed dietitians who were willing to become involved in home-care practice were recruited. After 20 hours of training, they began to take their homecare internship. Totally 80 dietitians completed the entire training course. Data collected included evaluations of course satisfaction and a home-care knowledge questionnaire of trained dietitians, and the nutritional status of home-care individuals such as serum albumin and cholesterol levels before and after service intervention. Results significantly differed as to the average mistaken knowledge about home-care (13.4 ± 3.6 vs. 8.5 ± 3.2 poin1s, p < 0. 001), and as to the service skills of home-care using a self-administrated questionnaire of trained dietitians (p<0.001). Among trained dietitians, 97.4% thought that the course was helpful, and among them, 59.9 % thought it was very helpful. Serum albumin and cholesterol of home-care individuals rose from 3.1 ± 0.6 gm/dL, 139 ± 32 mg/dL to 3.4 ± 0.5 gm/dL, 153 ± 34 mg/dL, respectively, which were both statistically significant (p< 0.01). Both the responses of the trained dietitians and the nutritional indicators of the home-care individuals showed that training courses are important and effective. Therefore the development of professional training courses and the recognition of licensed home-care professionals for the practice of long-term care and the quality of home-care service should be taken into consideration in health policy.
With changes in medical policies in Taiwan, the demand of subjects for home care is rapidly increasing. However, this population is at risk of malnutrition because of limited medical care available outside hospitals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore and identify the adaptability of training courses for dietitians who administer home-care nutritional services. Those licensed dietitians who were willing to become involved in home-care practice were recruited. After 20 hours of training, they began to take their homecare internship. Totally 80 dietitians completed the entire training course. Data collected included evaluations of course satisfaction and a home-care knowledge questionnaire of trained dietitians, and the nutritional status of home-care individuals such as serum albumin and cholesterol levels before and after service intervention. Results significantly differed as to the average mistaken knowledge about home-care (13.4 ± 3.6 vs. 8.5 ± 3.2 poin1s, p < 0. 001), and as to the service skills of home-care using a self-administrated questionnaire of trained dietitians (p<0.001). Among trained dietitians, 97.4% thought that the course was helpful, and among them, 59.9 % thought it was very helpful. Serum albumin and cholesterol of home-care individuals rose from 3.1 ± 0.6 gm/dL, 139 ± 32 mg/dL to 3.4 ± 0.5 gm/dL, 153 ± 34 mg/dL, respectively, which were both statistically significant (p< 0.01). Both the responses of the trained dietitians and the nutritional indicators of the home-care individuals showed that training courses are important and effective. Therefore the development of professional training courses and the recognition of licensed home-care professionals for the practice of long-term care and the quality of home-care service should be taken into consideration in health policy.