The purpose of this study was to evaluate nurses' perception of clinical nutrition services. A cross-sectional survey design was performed. The research was accomplished by using questionnaires developed for this study and administered from September 12 to December 31, 2013 to 343 nurses at 43 tertiary hospitals and 20 general hospitals. The percentage of nurses who recognized clinical nutrition certificate as issued from nation was 27.8%. The mean scores of perceived usefulness on clinical nutrition services was 4.23/5.00, whereas that of perceived implementation was 3.76/5.00. The mean scores of necessity of disease-specialized clinical dietitian at capital hospitals were significantly higher for obesity (P<0.01), cancer (P<0.05), and infant & childhood disease (P<0.01) than at local hospitals. The rates of nurses' experience in group education on cancer at capital hospitals (21.7%) was significantly higher than that at local hospitals (10.3%) (P<0.05). The mean scores of perceived importance of clinical nutrition services were 4.46/5.00 for 'group nutrition education', 4.46/5.00 for 'individual consultation', and 4.40/5.00 for 'nutrition management for enteral nutrition (EN) patients'. The most common reason why clinical nutrition services are important was 'improving malnutritional status'. To activate clinical nutrition services especially at local hospitals, clinical dietitians should give systematic assistance to patients and also institutional supports are needed.

This study compared the perception, necessity, and satisfaction of free school foodservice among parents of students with and without access to free school foodservice. The sample included parents of students with access to free school foodservice (FSF group, 250 parents) or paid school foodservice (PSF group, 250 parents) in Taean, Chungnam. With regard to perception of school foodservice, 30% of PSF parents responded that it is a necessary part of school education, whereas 52% of FSF parents considered it as a part of national welfare service; this difference was significant (P<0.001). In terms of positive remarks, most parents in the PSF group highlighted convenience whereas the FSF group answered that their children were penalized; this difference was significant (P<0.001). In addition, 94% of PSF parents and 96.8% of FSF parents indicated that school foodservice is necessary. In terms of the perception of the free school foodservice, more FSF parents (96.4%) than PSF parents (84.4%) answered that they knew free school foodservice well; this difference was significant (P<0.001). With regard to target recipients of the free school foodservice, most parents in the PSF group said that needy students should be selected, whereas the FSF group said that all students should be eligible; this difference was significant (P<0.001). Acceptance of free school foodservice in the FSF group (34.4%) was significantly higher than that in the PSF group (23.2%). Satisfaction with free school foodservice was 3.5 points in the FSF group, which was significantly higher than the 2.9 points in the PSF group (P<0.001). In summary, parents of students with access to free school foodservice showed more positive perception and higher satisfaction than parents of students with paid school foodservice. This study recommends that parents' suggestions be considered and further perception and responses on free school foodservice be investigated.

The objective of this study was to examine job satisfaction status and its related factors among dietitians working in hospitals. A survey questionnaire was sent to dietitians working in tertiary, general, and convalescent hospitals in Korea. The study sample hospitals included all tertiary hospitals (n=43), and the sample of general hospitals (n=114) and convalescent hospitals (n=240) was randomly selected using a stratified sampling method. A total of 665 dietitians completed the survey questionnaire. The questionnaire included 27 job satisfaction questions on task, stability vision, working conditions, and relationship areas, and the questions on task improvement need. The job satisfaction scores in all four areas ranged from 2.53/5.00 to 3.89/5.00, implying generally low job satisfaction level in hospital dietitians. The job satisfaction levels in the convalescent hospital group were significantly lower compared to those in the tertiary and general hospital groups. Whereas job satisfaction levels of tertiary and convalescent hospital groups did not differ by number of beds, those of the general hospital group increased significantly with the number of beds for all four areas. Multivariate regression analysis results showed that hospital type was a significant predictor of job satisfaction level for all four areas. Job satisfaction of relationship area was also significantly affected by the number of beds, whereas that of working conditions was influenced by annual income and working experience. The study findings provide useful information in planning clinical dietitians' optimal supply outlook for the improvement of clinical nutrition services.

Reducing plate-waste for school lunches is an important strategy to guarantee adequate nutrition intakes by students as well as to protect the environment. This study was conducted to determine dieticians' perception of no-plate-waste day. The subjects were dieticians at 203 schools in Seoul and Kyeonggi-do. Among them, 132 schools (78.6%) operated no-plate-waste day once a week, 6.9% once a month, 10.8% twice a week, whereas 17.2% did not operate at all. According to dieticians, plate-waste per student on no-plate-waste day (mean 49.1 g) was lower than that on an ordinary day (mean 79.2 g). The most popular method to advertise no-plate-waste day was to notify it on the menu board (52.4%), followed by notifying it on the dining hall and the school website. The most frequently used reward on no-plate-waste day was a gift snack (67.3%), followed by complimentary stickers, awards, and GPA. The most common side effect of no-plate-waste day was students' abandoning foods (45.2%), followed by rejecting food and simplified menu. The most frequent barrier was insufficient recognition of necessity (39.3%), followed by shortage of manpower or budget and students and teachers' resistance. The dieticians at 35 schools without no-plate-waste day answered that they did not operate it due to 'no need perceived' and 'no budget' (31.4% and 31.4%, respectively). Based on this study, government and society should promote the need to reduce plate-waste by students and teachers as well as school administrators.

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in nutrient intake in patients at nutritional risk. We included 106 malnourished patients who were admitted to Severance Hospital from March to September 2014. The average age was $59.0{\pm}11.6$ years old and 59 patients were male (59.7%). The majority of diagnosis was cancer (94.3%). We evaluated patients' nutritional status by scored patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA), anthropometric measurement (height, weight, body composition by Bioelectrical impedance analysis), hand grip strength, biochemical and dietary assessment. The patients' daily intakes of energy and protein ($1,019.5{\pm}706.4kcal$, $40.4{\pm}27.7g$) during hospitalization were significantly lower than their usual intakes ($1,382.0{\pm}499.8kcal$, $54.4{\pm}25.1g$, P<0.001). Serum levels of albumin, cholesterol, and total lymphocytes were significantly reduced during hospital stay. The negatively influencing factors for reduced dietary intake were anorexia (42.5%), abdominal distention (14.2%), pain (13.2%), and others. The results of this study could be used to establish baseline data for developing new strategies for nutritional intervention in malnourished patients.

This study evaluated the effects of sanitary education administered to elementary and middle school foodservice employees with work experience. The subjects of this study were 360 school foodservice employees in Gyeonggi-do during August, 2010. Sanitary education and awareness were assessed using three major dimensions: food sanitation (six items), personal hygiene (five items), and environmental sanitation (three items). Each dimension was categorized according to several items in the form of a self-evaluated Likert 5 point scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS WIN Version 12.0 package. The results showed that employees who worked for 5~10 years in the foodservice industry scored better in three dimensions before sanitary education compared to other groups. After sanitary education, all employees scored better in food sanitation than before, and employees who worked less than 5 years scored better at personal hygiene dimension than other groups. For environmental sanitation, employees who worked for 5~10 years scored better than other groups. Employees who worked for more than 10 years scored worse before and after sanitary education but scored highest for sanitary awareness. Employees between the ages of 31 and 40 showed significantly different scores before and after sanitary education.

This study is basic research focused on product development and market activation based on analysis of current usage and demand for development of processed blue crabs. A total of 556 subjects aged 20s to 60s living in the Seoul area were surveyed. According to the survey, 65.1% of subjects consumed blue crabs at home, and 82% of them purchased blue crabs whole and undressed. Respondents gave higher marks to taste, nutrition, and texture compared to ingredient preparation, eating method, and price. Majority of blue crab consumers had no experiences of consuming processed blue crabs. Exactly 57.0% of consumers purchased them at big shopping centers, and the reason for purchasing was their good taste. When female consumers purchased processed blue crabs, they checked every part carefully compared to male consumers. Women gave high scores to blue crab powder, blue crab extract, blue crab croquette, and blue crab cake compared to men, demonstrating the necessity of developing processed blue crabs. Furthermore, the experienced processed blue crab group recognized the necessity of developing processed blue crabs compared to the inexperienced group. People showed significant differences in purchasing processed blue crabs according to gender as well as previous experience of blue crab consumption.