Malnutrition Work for the Clinic: Patient Education

As my work in Xela is coming to end, I am trying to wrap up my projects and share the things I have learned with the clinic community. I am also going to try to train the medical students in primary care treatment and screening of Grade 1 and Grade 2 malnutrition.

One of the parts of my treatment plan is a strong educational component for the patients and families. I made up food pyramids with some more nutritional info for the patients to take home, and some to keep in the clinic for quick reference. I'm also including some basic malnutrition info, and a couple of forms of keeping track of weights and lab values both for the clinic and the families.

Here's what the food pyramid looks like:


I printed paperwork for 150 charts, and double-sided handouts for the same number of patients. I am hoping this is a good way to get things started. We're still working in finding enough money to support the protocol (which includes tests for anemia, tests for parasites, treatment for any GI infections, appetite stimulants when needed, multivitamins, possible iron supplementation, and monthly weight checks). But in the meantime I'm trying to get things going with whatever resources we have.

Hopefully after tomorrow's class and getting the papers in place at the clinic I can start focusing on the ORS project this weekend, to get that set into place.