A certified dietitian-nutritionist may write an order for a patient diet, including, but not limited to, a therapeutic diet for a patient in an institution, as defined in section 19a-490. The certified dietitian-nutritionist shall write such order in the patient's medical record. Any order conveyed under this section shall be acted upon by the institution's nurses and physician assistants with the same authority as if the order were received directly from a physician or an advanced practice registered nurse. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a physician or an advanced practice registered nurse from conveying a verbal order for a patient diet to a certified dietitian-nutritionist, which verbal order shall be reduced to writing and countersigned by a physician or advanced practice registered nurse not later than seventy-two hours after being conveyed, unless otherwise provided by state or federal law.

(P.A. 94-210, S. 16; P.A. 15-242, S. 54; P.A. 16-39, S. 28; 16-66, S. 25.)

History: P.A. 15-242 replaced provision re physician conveying order for diet with provision allowing dietitian-nutritionist to write order for patient diet, added provision requiring orders to be written in patient's medical record, replaced “twenty-four” with “seventy-two”, added provision re physicians not prohibited from conveying verbal orders for patient diet, and made technical and conforming changes; P.A. 16-39 added references to an advanced practice registered nurse; P.A. 16-66 added references to advanced practice registered nurse, deleted provision re order conveyed to be countersigned by physician and added provision re verbal order to be reduced to writing and countersigned by physician or advanced practice registered nurse.