TY - JOUR AU - Devries, Stephen AU - Aggarwal, Monica AU - Allen, Kathleen AU - Kris-Etherton, Penny AU - Theriot, Paul AU - Freeman, Andrew M. PY - 2021/12/16 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Assessment of the Low Referral Rate of Cardiologists to Dietitians/Nutritionists JF - International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention JA - ijdrp VL - 4 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.22230/ijdrp.2021v3n2a303 UR - https://ijdrp.org/index.php/ijdrp/article/view/303 SP - 8 pp AB - <div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'AGaramondPro';"><strong>Background:</strong> </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt; font-family: 'AGaramondPro';">Dietary factors are a leading contributor to cardiovascular disease. Cardiologists are ideally positioned to initiate dietary discussions with patients and to make appropriate referrals to dietitians/nutritionists, yet the frequency of such referrals is unknown. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'AGaramondPro';"><strong>Methods:</strong> </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt; font-family: 'AGaramondPro';">A national survey was distributed to cardiologists to assess the frequency of their referrals to dietitians/nutritionists, their assessment of the efficacy of such referrals, and the perceived barriers to patient implementation of dietary changes following referral to dietitians/nutritionists. </span></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'AGaramondPro';">Results: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt; font-family: 'AGaramondPro';">A total of 123 cardiologists responded to the survey. The majority of respondents (71%) reported that they referred 10% or fewer of their patients to dietitians/nutritionists. Cardiologists who participated in a nutrition-focused continuing medical education activity were nearly twice as likely to refer patients to a dietitian/nutritionist as those who did not. Thirty-two percent of cardiologists believed that 25% or more of their referred patients made significant gains in achieving dietary goals. Most cardiologists (63%) attributed the primary challenge to achieving dietary goals to “the patient’s lack of interest and motivation in making dietary changes” while 6% believed the lack of desired results were related to the quality of the counseling provided. Overall, 59% of cardiologists endorsed the belief that dietary interventions can improve outcomes to an equal or greater degree than pharmacologic therapy</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 2"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><strong><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'AGaramondPro';">Conclusion: </span></strong><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt; font-family: 'AGaramondPro';">Cardiologists reported making few referrals to dietitians/nutritionists; however, those who received continuing education in nutrition were significantly more likely to make a referral than those who did not receive nutrition education. The efficacy of referrals to dietitians/nutritionists was considered to be limited, which the majority of cardiologists attributed to a lack of patient interest and motivation—a belief that is not aligned with prior surveys of patient preferences. </span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div> ER -