NDD Policies and Guidelines:

Diet Order Updating and

Verification
By Marc Angelo R. Basilio, RN

Purpose
To document the procedure in diet order

updating and verification from the Nurses

Station

Principle
To update and verify patients diet order

prescribed by the physician

Definition of Terms
Dietary Module a computer program or

system designed for patients service

transactions at the Nutrition and Dietetics
Division.
Diet List a computer-generated form or list
that indicates the patient daily diet order and
its specifications to be carried out or
translated into 3 meals. Pertinent data such as
the patient age, room number and diagnosis,
name of attending physician and diet
instructor.

Definition of Terms
Patient Diet Card a card that reflects the

diet of the patient which is used when dishingout foods during trayline. Patient diet card is
color-coded specific for a given diet.

Responsible
Persons/Responsibilities
Food Service Worker II (Office

Assistant)
Updates the patient diet in the meal card and

computer
Communicates with nursing station by phone
call on changes in diet and patients request.

Steps
Nurse on duty encodes patient diet

prescription in the computer upon admission,

changes in diets, room transfers, guest trays
and patients food preferences and additional
requests.
Patients with special diet or with specific

restrictions, food requests, and intolerances are

served individually based on their religion (i.e.
Muslims no pork; Seventh day Adventists no
pork, seafoods and fish without scales;
Vegetarian diet Strict (Vegan), lactovegetarian, lacto ovo-vegetarian).

Diet orders or changes which are made after

the meal distribution cut-off time will be

served in the next meal time.
Cut-off time for meal distribution for new

patients:
Breakfast to be encoded/called in not later than
8:30 am
Lunch - to be encoded/called in not later than 1:30
pm
Supper - to be encoded/called in not later than 8:00
pm

Cut-off time for room transfers and change in

diets:
Breakfast - to be encoded/called between 5:00 am
and 7:00 am
Lunch - to be encoded/called between 10:00 am and
12:00 noon
Supper - to be encoded/called between 3:00 pm and
8:00 pm

Discharge Cut-off time

8:30 am & 10:30 am to be given lunch
1:30 pm & 3:30 pm to be given supper
Inform dietary office for deferment of discharges and
if patients had been discharges before meal delivery.

Food Service Worker II (Office Assistant)

updates (carried out) all patients diet

changes in the computer.
Admission reflected in the computer without
diet order is verified/called in by the Food
Service Worker II to the nurse station by
phone.
All late admissions which have no diet orders by

8:00 pm will be given a No Added Salt No

Simple Sugar meal as verified by the nurse.

All phoned-in admissions, transfer of rooms, change

of diets and other patients request made are noted

in the Diet list and encoded in the computer by the
nurse to ensure all orders are carried out.
Encoding/updating of Diets in the computer
Religion are encoded in the diet order and reflected

in the individual meal card.

From the main menu of the dietary system, type

the patients last name to be updated, select or

click the name. All additional diets, requests should
be typed in the remarks

REFERENCE DOCUMENT
Dietary module manual

Familiarization with
Abbreviation of Diets and
different Diet Terminologies
Protein CHON
Purine Pu
Calories cal
Diabetic Db
Carbohydrates CHO
Tube feeding TF
DAT, Regular diet, Full regular diet, no other

modifications
Phosphorus Phos

Calcium oxalate Ca Ox
Sodium Na
Salt salt
Cholesterol Chole
Renal, CRF, CRI, ESRD, Uremic, Azotemic

(This means low protein, low sodium in the

dietary) If doctors gave the amount (e.g. 0.8,
1.1, 1.2, 1.5 g), encode under remarks and
any additional modifications

Diet Abbreviations