Canadian Malnutrition Awareness Week, our annual campaign, aims to enhance learning of clinicians, healthcare providers and consumers around malnutrition. CMAW 2024 dates to follow.
In primary care, 1 dollar spent on nutrition interventions can save up to 99 dollars by reducing medication use, hospitalizations and freeing up physician time.
“Making Meals Matter through Lived Experience” by Stephanie Cox RD, AHS
During mealtimes, I’d often see patients being interrupted. I would see physicians doing patient rounds at breakfast time, lab techs drawing blood mid-meal, or nurses providing medications at lunch.
With the support from AHS Nutrition Services and Patient Engagement departments I organized a lived mealtime experience for staff. It included site leaders from all departments ─ Volunteer Resources, Food, Linen and Environmental Services, Nursing, Allied Health, and Maintenance. Staff were given a meal or snack, then were presented with various scenarios. These included:
• interruptions while eating such as getting blood pressure measured or being interviewed by health care workers
• being distracted by noise and smell (like cleaning equipment or maintenance work)
• poor lighting (created by making staff wear dark glasses and then given food or packages to open), and
• trying to eat in a reclined position.
After each scenario, staff were asked how each distraction made them feel and what could be done differently. We came up with ideas to work together to reduce barriers to improve the mealtime experience.
Research supports that getting enough nutrition can speed recovery and shorten patients’ length of stay in hospital. Mealtimes can be enjoyable for patients while providing adequate nutrition to help them heal.
Staff discussed how the scenarios helped them experience mealtimes from the perspective of a patient. The lived mealtime experience showed that everyone can impact the patient mealtimes and, ultimately, how much they eat. As a dietitian, it was so rewarding to be a part of this. I encourage other healthcare workers to do the same and see what creative solutions can be made. It took all of us working together to make it happen
For ideas on how to reduce barriers in your site, you may view the Time to Eat toolkit by copying and pasting the following to your web browser https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/nutrition/Page16003.aspx
For more details, contact Stephanie Cox RD, AHS stephanie.cox@ahs.ca
