Improving nutritional care: innovation and good practice
Improving nutritional care: innovation and good practice
Aims: this paper presents examples of good practice in nutritional screening and care and identifies methods used to overcome contextual constraints and discusses the implications for nursing practice in hospitals.
Background: nutritional screening is an important step in identifying those at risk of malnutrition, but does not produce improved nutritional care unless it results in a care plan that is acted on. The importance of nutrition and implications for clinical care make it imperative to improve practice.
Design: qualitative investigation.
Methods: between January 2011–February 2012, focus groups were held using a semi-structured discussion guide with nine groups of health professionals (n = 80) from one hospital: four with nurses, three with doctors and two with dietitians. Discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed and coded into themes and sub-themes, which were then depicted in a thematic map and illustrated with verbatim quotes.
Findings: three strategies for sustaining effective nutritional practice emerged: establishing routines to ensure screening was undertaken; re-organizing aspects of care to promote good practice; developing innovative approaches. Issues to be addressed were the perceived disconnection between mandatory screening and the delivery of effective care, a requirement for nutrition education, organizational constraints of a large university hospital and the complexities of multidisciplinary working.
Conclusion: professionals seeking to improve nutritional care in hospitals need to understand the interaction of system and person to facilitate change. Nursing staff need to be able to exercise autonomy and the hospital system must offer enough flexibility to allow wards to organize nutritional screening and care in a way that meets the needs of individual patients
881-894
Chapman, C.
4d862e52-7459-4847-b2b4-6753386bdeec
Barker, M.
374310ad-d308-44af-b6da-515bf5d2d6d2
Lawrence, W.
e9babc0a-02c9-41df-a289-7b18f17bf7d8
April 2015
Chapman, C.
4d862e52-7459-4847-b2b4-6753386bdeec
Barker, M.
374310ad-d308-44af-b6da-515bf5d2d6d2
Lawrence, W.
e9babc0a-02c9-41df-a289-7b18f17bf7d8
Chapman, C., Barker, M. and Lawrence, W.
(2015)
Improving nutritional care: innovation and good practice.
Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71 (4), .
(doi:10.1111/jan.12571).
(PMID:25403616)
Abstract
Aims: this paper presents examples of good practice in nutritional screening and care and identifies methods used to overcome contextual constraints and discusses the implications for nursing practice in hospitals.
Background: nutritional screening is an important step in identifying those at risk of malnutrition, but does not produce improved nutritional care unless it results in a care plan that is acted on. The importance of nutrition and implications for clinical care make it imperative to improve practice.
Design: qualitative investigation.
Methods: between January 2011–February 2012, focus groups were held using a semi-structured discussion guide with nine groups of health professionals (n = 80) from one hospital: four with nurses, three with doctors and two with dietitians. Discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed and coded into themes and sub-themes, which were then depicted in a thematic map and illustrated with verbatim quotes.
Findings: three strategies for sustaining effective nutritional practice emerged: establishing routines to ensure screening was undertaken; re-organizing aspects of care to promote good practice; developing innovative approaches. Issues to be addressed were the perceived disconnection between mandatory screening and the delivery of effective care, a requirement for nutrition education, organizational constraints of a large university hospital and the complexities of multidisciplinary working.
Conclusion: professionals seeking to improve nutritional care in hospitals need to understand the interaction of system and person to facilitate change. Nursing staff need to be able to exercise autonomy and the hospital system must offer enough flexibility to allow wards to organize nutritional screening and care in a way that meets the needs of individual patients
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e-pub ahead of print date: 17 November 2014
Published date: April 2015
Organisations:
Human Development & Health
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Local EPrints ID: 375588
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/375588
ISSN: 0309-2402
PURE UUID: fd462daa-9d62-43c2-aa91-00e9f81aa48f
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Date deposited: 09 Apr 2015 12:29
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:11
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C. Chapman
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