Poor dietary habits have plagued the US, resulting in increasing rates of obesity and its related comorbidities. The current primary care system is not well-equipped to provide effective dietary behavior change counseling because of the lack of training and knowledge of primary care providers about nutrition, as well as the additional competing demands. An innovative approach taken by food retailers in the Patient-Centered Medical Neighborhood (PCMN) is to use Registered Dietitians (RDs) to promote healthy eating within the food retail environment. However, these currently occur independently of the care coordinated within primary care. The proposed project will develop VioScreen PCMN, a technology-based interface to improve the efficiency of dietary intake assessment of referred patients to PCMN RDs from primary care, while also creating a portal by which the results of individualized counseling can be reported back to the Primary Care Physician through the Electronic Medical Record. A methodology that employs non-physician providers, such as RDs, within the PCMN model provides a valuable opportunity to utilize a multidisciplinary approach to patient care and maximize the strengths each clinician provides. These efforts may have a greater impact in those with the greatest needs and can be used efficiently in the time frame of primary care services has the potential to dramatically reduce the prevalence and severity of obesity and chronic diseases. Phase I will develop a prototype of VioScreen PCMN and test the feasibility of facilitating primary care patient outcomes through dietary and behavior changes via enhanced education and improved dietary counseling at the PCMN supermarket with outcomes reported directly back to primary care via health technologies.
The current primary care system is not well-equipped to provide effective dietary behavior change counseling because of the lack of training and knowledge of primary care providers about nutrition, as well as the additional competing demands. An innovative approach taken by food retailers in the Patient-Centered Medical Neighborhood is to use Registered Dietitians, such as those employed at grocery stores, to promote healthy eating within the food retail environment. The proposed project will develop a technology-based interface to improve the efficiency of dietary intake assessment of referred patients from primary care, while also creating a portal by which the results of individualized counseling can be reported back to the Primary Care Physician through the Electronic Medical Record.
