Liberalized Diet Manual

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A Liberally Improved Approach to Patient Feeding:  Computrition, Inc. Partners with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in to Develop of a New Liberalized Diet Manual  

Computrition, Inc. has partnered with the Nutrition Services Team at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and revamped the pre-existing Liberalized Diet Manual.  Their mutual intent is to offer theoretical knowledge and a clinical referential guide to incorporating a liberalized diet approach into an acute healthcare setting.  This is a beneficial tool for the industry, as it takes a dining concept initially introduced in the long-term care sector approximately 30 years ago, and has been modified to continue serving that market, while also providing a new solution to healthcare foodservice administrators seeking a unique approach to patient feeding.   

The concept behind offering a liberalized diet is rather straightforward in concept – feed patients what they want, within reason, and they will eat better, ideally contributing to a faster recovery.  The liberalized diet approach promotes a patient-centric, educated decision making approach to feeding, however it is not a ‘free-for-all.’  In likelihood, and with the exception of extreme diet orders, patients will not only have a swifter recovery if they consume the foods they prefer, but they will generally return to eating their normal diet once they are discharged.  For the typical 2-3 day stay in a hospital, it is largely unlikely that keeping the average patient on a strict therapeutic diet will have anything but an ill-effect on both their overall patient experience, as well as their return to health – even if they go slightly over their medically regimented daily sodium or fat intake, for example. 

This was found to be accurate at UPMC when Foodservice Director, Joyce Scott-Smith, MS, RD, LDN, along with her team, incorporated a liberalized diet program to promote patient-centered care in 2004.  They found that through this nutritional approach, they were able to improve patient satisfaction, increase food consumption, and educate patients about their therapeutic diets prior to discharge. 

In reference to implementing a liberalized diet approach at UPMC, Scott-Smith states, “The positive outcomes of increased patient satisfaction and nutritional intake make the patient controlled liberalized diet program noteworthy.  Beyond that, creating a patient centered model of nutrition care with this program has been a dynamic and rewarding experience.  Our UPMC Nutrition Team is pleased to partner with Computrition in the next step of sharing the concept with others.”  

UPMC collaborated with Computrition by taking the pre-existing manual, developed by Ellyn Luros-Elson RD and staff, and modified it to be applicable in both long-term care as well as acute care environments.  Computrition will manage distribution of the manual, and will provide UPMC with a percentage of the proceeds to provide funding for nutrition-based educational programming for the UPMC Nutrition Services team.   

Luros-Elson adds, “Computrition prides itself on being more than merely a provider of foodservice management and patient-care automation.  Continually striving to offer a complete and innovative hospitality solution, beyond technology, is one of the reasons we have remained an industry leader for the past 26 years.  We are passionate about our customers’ success, and thrive on thinking outside the box to ensure we are at the ready as new concepts arise.”   

A copy of the Liberalized Diet Manual may be purchased by clicking the following link: Liberalized Diet Manual order form.

About University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)

Founded in 1893 as a Presbyterian Hospital, UPMC has grown to encompass a 29-county health system with 19 hospitals and hundreds of other care sites. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is considered the predominant health care provider in the region and a renowned clinical and business innovator worldwide.  Its mission is to “To provide outstanding patient care to shape tomorrow's health system through clinical innovation, biomedical and health services research, and education.”