Hydration: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of UK Dietitians

Table 3

Dietitians’ self-reported practices regarding hydration in patient care ().

Practice area	Response	Proportion of participants’ responses; (%)
Usual method of promoting hydration in standard care	Not part of care	7 (7)
	Encourage reduced caffeine intake	1 (1)
	Encourage water intake only	1 (1)
	Encourage water and other beverages	88 (91)
Average time spent providing hydration advice in a 4-hour clinical session	0 minutes	4 (4)
	Between 0 and 10 minutes	30 (31)
	Greater than 10 minutes	32 (33)
	Unable to quantify	31 (32)
Frequency of promoting hydration to stroke patients	Never	23 (24)
	Occasionally	17 (18)
	Regularly	22 (22)
	Always	35 (36)
Frequency of assessing patients’ self-reported urine colour	Never	6 (6)
	Occasionally	36 (37)
	Regularly	38 (39)
	Always	17 (18)
Personal rating of hydration status at work	Bad	14 (14)
	Average	43 (44)
	Good	26 (27)
	Excellent	14 (14)
Workplace access and use of water dispensing facilities	Yes, and I use it	64 (66)
	Yes, but I do not use it	10 (10)
	No, but I would use if available	22 (23)
	No, I would not use it	1 (1)