In the shift from disease to health, the reduction of healthcare costs and the growing focus on prevention, dietetics plays a very important role. E-health is becoming increasingly important in this. But separate apps are not going to provide the solution, said Bianca Rootsaert of the Dutch Association of Dietitians.
Nutrition consulting has become a market. Anyone can call themselves a nutrition coach or a diet coach these days. But dietitians are the experts. They are the only ones with a protected professional title. In the new vision drawn up by the Dutch Association of Dietitians, the profession and the challenges are clearly described. And provides a direction for the coming years.
Bianca Rootsaert, director of the Dutch Association of Dietitians: "Healthy nutrition is for and belongs to everyone. It's great that the subject is getting so much attention. Even Albert Heijn has a lifestyle coach these days."
"The dietitian does much more than give nutritional advice, the dietitian treats. Who translates the scientific insights in the field of nutrition to the patient. And helps a patient achieve optimal nutritional status. That prevents further care. Take a patient with cancer. They often avoid food. You then have to guard against malnutrition. The moment you are sick, standard advice no longer suffices. Then you need a dietician."
Three hours per year
A dietitian receives three hours per patient per year from basic insurance in primary care. In addition, sometimes more is possible from chain care and integrated care pathways. Three hours is sometimes enough, but very often not. "When it comes to children or complex syndromes, for example, it is very tight. It would be nice if the reimbursement is provided flexibly from the level of care."
Guarding against proliferation
The dietitian is becoming increasingly important at a time when prevention and the reduction of health care costs are central. Here, too, e-health is playing an increasing role. Rootsaert sees an important role for remote care, but wants to guard against a proliferation of separate apps. "These are often not an alternative to contact with the dietician. They too often focus on partial solutions and lose sight of the overall picture. The relationship between people and nutrition is more complex than focusing on products you should or shouldn't eat. This approach is too narrow. "
"In the coming years, we need to look at the long term. Digitizing is much more than building an app. If you do it, you have to do it sustainably. That's why we developed a Vision for Digital Care in Paramedic Practice in addition to a vision for the profession last November. We need to separate the wheat from the chaff."
"Separate apps and algorithms that focus on one part of a disease, like HBA in diabetes, for example, are not going to bring the solution; it's really too complex for that."
Rootsaert loves connecting from content. In addition to being director of the NVD, she chairs Paramedisch Platform Nederland, a collaborative network of six paramedical organizations. She is also a board member of the Dutch Diabetes Federation and Platform Overweight Netherlands.
Open innovation platform
The stated vision for the profession and digital care is also clear about it: "In 2030, dietitians will share knowledge, insights, tools, data, methods and techniques with each other on an open innovation platform. Think outcomes of surveys, informative videos, facts about wearables and monitoring, digital consultation techniques, design for group programs and more. With the innovation consortium we are building, we are accelerating the development and modernization of the field and increasing the impact of dietetics. The wheel only needs to be invented once."
To get to that point by 2030, Rootsaert says it's time to start building bridges now. "Is what is technically possible also good? There are four worlds that need to meet. I am thinking of ICT, healthcare, dieticians and other healthcare providers. Together we need to start building that bridge and work on sustainable solutions."
Smart applications
Those sustainable solutions lie in e-health, but also in smart digital applications to facilitate the work of dietitians. Evry's Johan de Ridder is pleased with the vision. "That's really going to help strengthen the position of dietitians. For years I have been surprised that only three hours per patient per year are reimbursed. Other paramedics, such as occupational therapy and speech therapy, have many more hours. Especially at a time when prevention is getting so much attention, those three hours of dietetics is very little.
Saving time
Evry, he says, helps dietitians use their time as efficiently as possible. "Take, for example, our app that allows the employee to easily view the calendar on his or her phone and quickly call a client or scan a document. Or can photograph a referral letter and add it to the file. They're definitely going to save time with that."
Or the client portal where the clients themselves can log in and send messages, schedule their own consultations or, for example, start reporting all kinds of readings. So they can stand on the scales every day and report their weight, glucose level, heart rate or blood pressure. With that, we hope that the client can start doing a little bit more themselves and so the three hours can be spent optimally."
Connect and implement
Says Rootsaert, "It's going to be important in the near future to connect and implement everything that's technically possible and available in the right way, also paying attention to the costs that dietitians have to incur. Many of these applications have their own licensing model and that becomes unsustainable for individual paramedic practices."
Healthy food is the focus during Zorg & food. This event will take place from April 9 to 11 at Jaarbeurs. Come to Utrecht for innovations and inspiration on sustainable, healthy and tasty food.