A volunteer feeding assistance program can improve dietary intakes of elderly patients – A Pilot Study

Abstract

Malnutrition is prevalent in elderly hospitalised patients and has been associated with longer lengths of stay (LOS), higher rates of complications and increased hospital costs. Feeding assistance has traditionally been the role of nurses, however with an ageing population and an ever-increasing workload there may not be sufficient time to ensure the nutritional care of all patients. A program in which trained volunteers assist, socialise and feed nutritionally vulnerable patients at lunch on weekdays has been initiated in a major suburban hospital in Sydney. The pilot study reported here aimed to evaluate the lunchtime assistance program in terms of dietary intakes by comparing data from weekdays (with volunteers) and that from weekends (no volunteers). Nine patients (mean age+(SD): 89±4.6 years) participated in the study. Observations and weighed plate waste were recorded for each patient at lunch on two weekdays and two weekend days. When volunteers were present, the average protein intake increased by 10.1 g at lunch (p<0.05) and 10.7g over the whole day (p<0.05). There was also a trend to increased energy intake. Observations indicated that the volunteers, when compared to the nurses, socialised more with patients, encouraged them to eat more often and spent more time feeding them. Trialing volunteer assistance in a larger study would be useful. Observations and weighed plate waste were recorded for each patient at lunch on two weekdays and two weekend days. When volunteers were present, the average protein intake increased by 10.1 g at lunch (p<0.05) and 10.7g over the whole day (p<0.05). There was also a trend to increased energy intake. Observations indicated that the volunteers, when compared to the nurses, socialised more with patients, encouraged them to eat more often and spent more time feeding them. Trialing volunteer assistance in a larger study would be useful.

The impact of trained volunteer mealtime assistants on dietary intake and satisfaction with mealtime care in adult hospital inpatients: A systematic review

“…Of the 14 articles, eight reported research studies of varying quasi experimental design [32,[42][43][44][48][49][50][51]. One article defined itself as both a study and a programme evaluation, but was considered a study in this review due to the scientific nature of the published report [40].…”

“…The setting in thirteen articles was an acute hospital [32,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50], with the remaining study set in a short stay dementia assessment unit [51]. The UK was the most common location (7 articles) [39,41,[44][45][46][47]50], followed by Australia (4 articles) [32,42,43,49], the United States (2 articles) [40,48] and New Zealand (1 article) [51].…”

Evaluation of a pilot volunteer feeding assistance program: Influences on the dietary intakes of elderly hospitalised patients and lessons learnt

“…12 Their study consisted of nine elderly patients, and compared two days with no volunteers present, and two days with volunteers present at lunch. The study found a significant increase in protein intake during the lunch meals with volunteers present and throughout the whole day where 12 volunteers were present.…”

“…11 Several Australian studies have evaluated a volunteer feeding program and its effects on energy and protein intakes of elderly hospitalised patients. [12][13] Significantly more protein was consumed when volunteer assistance was given, and there was a trend towards increased energy intakes. A later study at the same hospital, with 23 patients found a significant increase in protein and energy intakes at lunch, and in protein intake for the days when volunteers were present.…”

Foodservice perspective in institutions

“…If patients cannot reach their trays easily, or cannot easily open small portion control packages commonly used for items such as drinks, milk, jams and butter, they may not be able to eat all the food provided. Two alternatives have been trialled to overcome these problems and give patients more assistance to eat: (1) offering mobile patients the option of eating in a dining room setting (Edwards and Hartwell, 2004), and (2) using volunteers to assist patients at meal times (Simmons et al, 2001;Walton et al, 2008).…”