About Us | More about our company.

We form an integral part of the multi-disciplinary team at Pretoria East Netcare Hospital. We provide excellent nutritional care through hard work, trustworthiness, excellent service and a passion for human nutrition.

Pretoria East Dieticians are leaders in clinical nutrition therapy in private practice in hospital. We do daily nutritional evaluations and treatment in the ICU and High Care units of Pretoria East Netcare Hospital. We also undertake nutritional screening in the hospital wards.

When a specific nutritional need is identified in a patient, we implement a nutritional assessment with appropriate interventions.

We also conduct consultations with out-patients who are referred to us by medical practitioners. We have a special interest in Trauma, ICU and Critical Care. We also consult patients with lifestyle diseases, as well as pediatric patients with special dietary requirements.

Vision

Pretoria East Dieticians’ vision is to provide clinical nutrition therapy which includes relevant information to assist patients to develop a healthy lifestyle, prevent the development of lifestyle diseases and, in the case of existing diseases, help to prevent and control complications. Therefore, we strive to increase patients’ quality of life during the aging process. We strive to continue the provision of exceptional nutrition care, focused on ethical decision making and scientifically correct information to optimise health.

Mission

Pretoria East Dieticians’ mission is to provide optimal nutrition support to all patients, based on accurate scientific knowledge, to promote a favourable immune response to disease and/or injury. Through special nutritional therapy, we aim to provide information and nutritional interventions to improve patients’ nutrition status, as well as their overall health and quality of life. Through special therapy, we also aim to prevent diseases in the future. By providing the abovementioned to hospital patients, complications will be reduced, length of hospital stay will be shortened and, consequently, overall costs will be reduced.

The Team | Meet our qualified dieticians.

Pretoria East Dieticians is an association of two HPCSA registered dieticians.

Gerda Enslin RD (SA)

Gerda completed a BSc. Dietetics and Post-graduate Diploma in Hospital Dietetics (RD). She is a registered dietician with the HPCSA and has a registered practice. Gerda has been working as a private practicing dietician since 1987. She has been working as a clinical dietician at the Pretoria East Netcare Hospital since 2002. She is a member of the South African Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (SASPEN), the Association for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA), and the Hospital Dietitians Interest Group (HDIG) and the European Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ESPEN).

Zelda Pienaar RD (SA)

Zelda completed a BSc. Home Economics (Food and Nutrition) and a Post-graduate Hospital Diploma in Dietetics (RD). She is a registered dietician with the HPCSA. She also has a registered practice. Zelda has practiced as both a nutritionist and dietician before joining Pretoria East Netcare Hospital as a clinical dietician in 2006. Zelda is a member of the South African Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (SASPEN), the Association for Dietetics in South Africa (ADSA), the Hospital Dietitians Interest Group (HDIG) and the European Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ESPEN).

Locums | Qualified locum dieticians.

We work with dieticians registered at the HPCSA, with experience in clinical nutrition, to assist with hospital and outpatient consultations.

Services | We provide optimal nutrition therapy.

We provide both hospital and out-patients with evidence-based clinical nutrition.

Nutrition education for

various diseases/conditions

Individualised

meal plans

Dietary management of

diseases/conditions

Medical nutrition therapy in the form of enteral and/or parenteral nutrition, during ICU or High Care stay where oral intake is not optimal or possible

Provision of oral nutrition supplements in cases where oral intake is insufficient to meet nutrient requirements

Immuno-nutrition in cases where indicated to promote wound healing and prevention of infectious complications

We have a special interest in the following:

• Lifestyle diseases (diabetes; metabolic syndrome; hiperlipidaemia; weight loss) • Surgical patients • Cancer patients

• Gastroenterology (ulcers, IBS, IBD, GERD, malabsorption, food intolerances etc.)     • COPD     • Burns     • Renal patients
• Liver diseases     • Allergies     • Pediatric patients     • Skin grafts     • Trauma     • Neurologic conditions     • Immune suppressed patients
• Dyslipidemia     • Hypertension     • Malnutrition (over-/underweight)

We consult hospital patients with evidence based clinical nutrition to contribute to the prevention of complications, reduce length of hospital stay and contribute to reduced hospital costs. We provide personalised optimal nutrition and disease specific dietary information.

We monitor our patients daily and conduct follow-ups of our patients’ nutrition care. We conduct follow-ups with out-patients to provide them with personalised, disease specific dietary information and meal plans.

We also consult privately to provide information in sports nutrition, as well as DNA diet analysis services (including for weight loss/management, chronic diseases, oestrogen metabolism and sport).