Post-Acute and Long-Term Care

Post-acute and long-term care can include long-term acute care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, home health agencies, hospice, assisted living facilities, and correctional facilities. Many of the clients/residents in these settings have been hospitalized recently and most have complex nutrition needs, so a person-centered, individualized process to provide care is necessary. With the population age increasing, there is a growing need for food and nutrition professionals' services to ensure that individual dietary needs are met.

The nutrition care process is designed to improve the consistency and quality of individualized care. The Academy connects members to resources for providing post-acute and long-term nutrition care.

• Standards for RDNs in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Nutrition: The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Revised 2018 Standards of Practice and Standards of Professional Performance for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists(Competent, Proficient, and Expert) in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Nutrition provide RDNs with a self-evaluation guide for assuring competence, identifying knowledge and skills to enhance expertise, and advance level of practice in PALTC nutrition.
• Nutrition Care Manual^®: The Academy's NCM^® includes a section on older adult nutrition which provides guidance and resources on geriatric nutrition, conditions specific to this population as well as end-of-life nutrition.
• International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative: IDDSI created global standardized terminology and definitions for texture-modified foods and thickened liquids to improve the safety and care for individuals with dysphagia.