Taking your show on the road: the concept of a mobile nutrition support team

Nutrition support teams (NSTs) have been in existence since the 1970s and remain an enduring concept of how nutrition support should be provided. The basic model of a NST who serves one institution has changed little over the past two decades. With the expansion of managed care, development of integrated hospital networks, decreasing inpatient census, and downsizing in hospital staff, a new model for the NST that anticipates and addresses these changes in the healthcare environment is needed. This article presents a model for a NST who is mobile and can function within an integrated system to improve the utilization, management, and quality of specialized nutrition therapy.