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Changing the food environment: the effect of trained volunteers on mealtime care for older people in hospital

Changing the food environment: the effect of trained volunteers on mealtime care for older people in hospital
Changing the food environment: the effect of trained volunteers on mealtime care for older people in hospital
This review will describe the evidence for changing the hospital environment to improve nutrition of older people, with particular emphasis on the role of additional mealtime assistance. Poor nutrition among older people in hospital is well recognised in many countries and is associated with poor outcomes of hospital care including increased mortality and longer lengths of stay. Factors recognised to contribute to poor dietary intake include acute illness, co-morbidities, cognitive impairment, low mood and medication. The hospital environment has also been scrutinised with reports from many countries of food being placed out of reach or going cold because time-pressured ward and catering staff often struggle to help an increasingly dependent group of patients at mealtimes. Routine screening in hospital for people at risk of under nutrition is recommended. Coloured trays and protected mealtimes are wide spread although there is relatively little evidence for their impact on dietary intake. Volunteers can be trained to safely give additional mealtime assistance including feeding to older patients on acute medical wards. They can improve the quality of mealtime care for patients and nursing staff although the evidence for improved dietary intake is mixed. In conclusion, improving the nutrition of older patients in hospital is challenging. Initiatives such as routine screening, the use of coloured trays, protected mealtimes and additional mealtime assistance can work together synergistically. Volunteers are likely to be increasingly important in an era when healthcare systems are generally limited in both financial resources and the ability to recruit sufficient nursing staff.
volunteer, older patients, mealtime, hospital
0029-6651
95-99
Roberts, Helen C.
5ea688b1-ef7a-4173-9da0-26290e18f253
Roberts, Helen C.
5ea688b1-ef7a-4173-9da0-26290e18f253

Roberts, Helen C. (2018) Changing the food environment: the effect of trained volunteers on mealtime care for older people in hospital. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 77 (2), 95-99. (doi:10.1017/S0029665117002804).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This review will describe the evidence for changing the hospital environment to improve nutrition of older people, with particular emphasis on the role of additional mealtime assistance. Poor nutrition among older people in hospital is well recognised in many countries and is associated with poor outcomes of hospital care including increased mortality and longer lengths of stay. Factors recognised to contribute to poor dietary intake include acute illness, co-morbidities, cognitive impairment, low mood and medication. The hospital environment has also been scrutinised with reports from many countries of food being placed out of reach or going cold because time-pressured ward and catering staff often struggle to help an increasingly dependent group of patients at mealtimes. Routine screening in hospital for people at risk of under nutrition is recommended. Coloured trays and protected mealtimes are wide spread although there is relatively little evidence for their impact on dietary intake. Volunteers can be trained to safely give additional mealtime assistance including feeding to older patients on acute medical wards. They can improve the quality of mealtime care for patients and nursing staff although the evidence for improved dietary intake is mixed. In conclusion, improving the nutrition of older patients in hospital is challenging. Initiatives such as routine screening, the use of coloured trays, protected mealtimes and additional mealtime assistance can work together synergistically. Volunteers are likely to be increasingly important in an era when healthcare systems are generally limited in both financial resources and the ability to recruit sufficient nursing staff.

Text
Roberts Proc Nutr Soc 2017 - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 23 June 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 October 2017
Published date: 1 May 2018
Keywords: volunteer, older patients, mealtime, hospital

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 416343
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/416343
ISSN: 0029-6651
PURE UUID: 92d5f948-fec2-40df-aa21-52e35acc8206
ORCID for Helen C. Roberts: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5291-1880

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 13 Dec 2017 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 06:01

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