Between Session Support

Increased patient engagement is strongly correlated with improved health outcomes. One of the many advantages of the Nourish Program is that it is easy for patients to remain engaged in their care journey, even outside of the session itself. Whether it be by messaging their dietitian, logging meals, or utilizing the To Do Feature within the Patient Portal, there are several ways for patients to track and make progress between sessions.

Dietitians are expected to encourage patient engagement between session by utilizing the following portal features.

Appointment summaries are not formal part of the chart note — rather, they are a place to gather information and resources to be shared with patients. Sending appointment summaries has been shown to increase patient engagement between sessions and positively impact retention.

Once you sign and lock your note, the information in the Appointment Summary box will be automatically emailed to the patient, along with any attached files / resources. To see how this email will look from the client perspective, you can click “Preview Email”.

A best practice for both initial and follow up sessions is to work with the patient to set 2-3 SMART goals that can be accomplished between sessions. Utilize the To-Do feature within the Patient and Provider Portal to increase interactivity and easily track completion of these short-term goals! View the below video for step-by-step instructions.

Patients have the capability to log meals directly within the patient portal / app! With meal logging, patients can:

• Log a meal with text and photos

• Record hunger / fullness before and after a meal (1-10)

• Record satisfaction with a meal (1-10)

• Write thoughts associated with a meal (free text)

• Set optional reminders to eat meals or log meals at specific times on specific days

• See their meal logging “streaks” when they log meals for multiple days in a row

• View a dietitian’s comments or reaction to a specific meal log

• Log GI symptoms

The messaging feature enables providers and patients to message directly in their respective Nourish portals. Patients can reach out between sessions via the messaging feature, so be sure you are periodically monitoring your Provider Portal for incoming messages. Patients have shown increased likelihood to attend future appointments when they are able to communicate with their providers between sessions.

Nourish has developed a number of branded resources that can be directly shared with patients. All patients have access to the resources directly in their Patient Portal, but resources can also be recommended to patients by their dietitian.

To access resources, click the “Resources” tab at the top of your Provider Portal. To share a patient-facing resource, simply hover over the desired resource, click the share icon that appears, search for the patient by name, email, or patient ID, then share. After you share a resource, it will populate at the top of the Resources tab in the Patient Portal.

Within the Provider Portal, you can click a “nudge” button in the patient list to send an automated (but, personalized!) email a patient suggesting they book another appointment. Utilize the nudge feature when your patient does not yet have a follow-up session scheduled!