Barriers to accurately measuring patients’ dietary intake in hospitals using the visual estimation method

Abstract

Purpose Visual estimation, an easy-to-perform technique, is commonly used in hospitals to assess dietary intake in patients. The authors performed a qualitative study where the authors interviewed nurses and dietitians about their perceptions of barriers to accurately measuring patients' dietary intake in hospitals using the visual estimation method. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Ten dietitians and ten clinical nurses responded to 30-minute individual interviews in Tokyo, Japan, in September 2014. Each interview was conducted using a common protocol of open-ended questions focusing on the challenges of the visual estimation method and barriers to accurately measuring patients' dietary intake as part of their routine work. The tape-recorded interviews were transcribed and analyzed based on grounded theory. Findings Five main categories emerged: hospitals, meals, colleagues, raters, and patients. Various individual barriers such as skill, attitude, knowledge, and others that had not been considered in previous studies also emerged. External barriers that were out of the raters' control, such as shortage of time, human resources, financial ability, and others, emerged from the "hospitals" category. Research limitations/implications Research participants were all females and many of them had less than ten years of experience. Practical implications In addition to standardizing the visual estimation process, medical staff need to overcome various other internal and external barriers to accurate measurements. Originality/value This is the first study to articulate some important barriers that influence reliability and validity when measuring patients' dietary intake by visual estimation methods in typical clinical settings.

Needs assessment for patients food intake monitoring among Indonesian healthcare professionals

“…The issue of human resources shortage is also highlighted by a Japanese study, which has indicated its role as one of barriers to accurately measure patients’ dietary intake using visual estimation (Kawasaki et al. ). These results are consistent with the findings of studies in Italy and Belgium that understaffing were one of the obstacles for the identification of the need for nutritional care (Vanderwee et al.…”

“…Staff are recommended to be careful when checking food intake by looking at the tray and listening to patient's account (Kawasaki et al. ).…”

“…Such errors in estimating food intake are often due to lack of training, subjective judgements, insufficient staffing, high staff turnover, as well as knowledge and attitude towards nutritional care among staff (Kawasaki et al. ; Palmer et al. ).…”

“…Staff possessing poor nutritional care awareness of for patients often find it difficult to measure patients’ dietary intake accurately, even when highly precise and efficient tools are developed and applied (Kawasaki et al. ). The current study also highlighted that dissemination of the importance of completing food intake record to the healthcare professionals was one of the strategies to overcome the issue.…”

“…To improve the current practice, it is necessary to develop a convenient and accurate visual estimation method, with considers barriers such as shortage of time and human resources (Kawasaki et al. ).…”