Patients’ Experiences with Nutritional Care during Hospitalization and Proposals for Improvement

Abstract

Background: Disease-related malnutrition is prevalent among hospitalized patients and further deterioration is seen during hospitalization. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate hospitalized patients' experiences regarding nutritional care during their hospitalization and to come up with suggestions for improvement. Methods: The design was a qualitative interview study using a semi-structured interview guide. Participants were inpatients at nutritional risk recruited by nurses and dieticians from 31 units at a Danish University Hospital. Findings: Fifty-four patients were included. The content analysis identified three main themes: 1) Experiences with nutritional care, 2) Facilitators and barriers for sufficient food intake during hospital stay and 3) Proposals for improvement regarding nutritional care. Some participants were satisfied with the nutritional care, while other were dissatisfied. Facilitators improving food intake were the presentation of the food, the smell of the food, favorable food products, eating in the living room, a manned snack trolley and the social aspect of eating together with both relatives and fellow patients. Barriers were the presentation and smell of the food, disturbing fellow patients and the implication of care activities in patient rooms during meals, lack of social eating and nutritional impact symptoms. Some patients missed having their diet intake recorded, as they found it important during admission, and to have a dialog about insufficient food intake with nurses or dieticians. Proposals for improvement include dialogue about food and difficulty of eating, as well as better food quality. Finally, a proposal was to individualize and visualize the menu of the day, ordering and diet recording. Conclusions: Some patients were satisfied with the nutritional care during their hospitalization, while others were dissatisfied. Suggestions for improvement to optimize nutritional care in hospitals were improved dialog with staff about nutrition including monitoring nutrition intake, and an individualized and visualized menu.