The clinical care provided by the dietitian is based on the dietetic diagnosis. A good dietetic diagnosis requires extensive ‘testing’. In DPG we describe which tests can be part of the dietetic diagnostic toolkit. The information from the diagnostic toolkit, together with the patient’s (or authorised representative) expressed needs and wishes, is required for establishing the dietetic diagnosis. The treatment goals are based on this dietetic diagnosis, and it can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment.
The assessment of nutritional status is complex and in practice, these diagnostic criteria have proved to be very useful in all care sectors and for all patient groups for organising the available information and identifying which information is missing in order to make the dietetic diagnosis. The toolkit is divided into 4 domains: somatic, functional, psychological and social factors.
