Nutrition-focused physical assessment

Although it may seem that the nutrition-focused physical examination adds more time to the visit, the exam can be done in less time than a complete physical assessment. With practice, it can be built into your routine visit without adding significant additional visit time. The benefit of this type of examination will more than pay off in determining a baseline assessment that will allow a comprehensive plan of care to be developed. In the long-term, initial and continual assessment of a patient's nutritional status and progression toward appropriate outcomes will actually help your patient and you save you time and money and will result in less complications and better outcomes.