A review of guidelines for nutrition care of renal patients.

The third edition of the Guidelines for Nutrition Care of Renal Patients has been developed to follow the American Dietetic Association's Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) Protocol format and to further assist dietitians in providing optimal and consistent care to renal patients. The guidelines define the level, content, and frequency of nutrition care that is appropriate based on the best available scientific information and expert opinion. Seven separate guidelines, primarily written for care provided in the outpatient setting, are defined in the publication. Each guideline focuses on a different patient population and/or treatment modality for renal disease: Pre-End-Stage Renal Disease, Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis, Hospitalized Dialysis, Transplantation, Acute Renal Failure, Enteral/Parenteral Nutrition Support, and Pregnancy in Renal Disease. The Guidelines for Nutrition Care of Renal Patients, Third Edition is meant to support and assist dietitians as providers of MNT in kidney disease, to provide uniform treatment care guidelines and nutritional status identification criteria for all aspects of kidney disease and its complications, and to help secure the dietitian as the provider of these services for optimum cost-effective care. The guidelines should help to increase effectiveness of care by promoting consistency among practitioners and should facilitate the measurement of the quality and effectiveness of care. Copyright 2002 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.