Nutrition

Programs & Support

Inpatient Support

UM Health-West’s clinical dietitians are responsible for:

• Assessing patients’ nutritional status and calculating their nutritional requirements
• Placing short-term feeding tubes and calculating tube feeds to meet nutritional needs
• Working with the pharmacy to manage parenteral nutrition for patients unable to use their gastrointestinal (GI) tract
• Providing nutrition education to patients and caregivers.

Outpatient Programs

UM Health-West’s outpatient dietitians work with patients to tailor their nutritional needs outside the hospital to help them comfortably manage their diseases. Patients experiencing the following conditions can receive outpatient dietitian support:

• GI issues, such as Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative Colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), pancreatitis, and cirrhosis
• Weight management concerns (i.e., overweight or underweight)
• Tube feeding
• Food allergies
• Wound care
• Other diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease (i.e., high blood pressure or congestive heart failure), and renal disease
• and much more!

If you would like a referral to our outpatient dietitian, ask your provider to fax a referral for “Outpatient Nutrition Counseling,” indicating the reason for referral, to the Central Scheduling Department at (616) 252-0155.

Provider will need to include the following information: patient name, birth date, demographics (address, phone number), ICD-10 code with diagnosis/reason for referral, insurance information (if available), and the physician’s signature.