Ms Erin Fisher1,2, A/Prof Leanne Brown2,3, Dr Kerith Duncanson4,5
1NSW Health Armidale Rural Referral Hospital, Armidale, Australia, 2University of Newcastle Department of Rural Health, Tamworth, Australia, 3Hunter Medical Research Institute Food and Nutrition Research Program, New Lambton Heights, Australia, 4Health Education Training Institute Rural Research Program, St Leonards, Australia, 5University of Newcastle School of Medicine and Public Health, Callaghan, Australia
Biography:
Erin works as a clinical dietitian at Armidale Rural Referral Hospital. Alongside this role, Erin works as an associate lecturer and educator in Nutrition and Dietetics for the University of Newcastle Department of Rural Health. Erin is completing her PhD and her research area is "Investigating the use of nutrition technology for the identification and management of malnutrition".
Abstract:
Background:
The Nutrition Dashboard provides food provision, intake, and nutrition risk data to dietitians at 48 NSW Health hospitals. Food service staff collect the dashboard data, estimating food intake using a five-point scale. Research shows the Nutrition Dashboard’s potential to identify risk of malnutrition, which is highly prevalent and negatively impacts health outcomes. This study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of food service staff and dietitians using the dashboard to understand barriers and enablers for its use.
Method:
A critical realist approach was used to explore data collected from transcribed focus groups with dietitians (n=17) and food service staff (n=5, recruitment ongoing) from rural/regional (n=4) and metropolitan (n=5) hospitals with access to the Nutrition Dashboard.
Results:
Food service staff and dietitians are partners in hospital nutrition care but have divergent priorities. Dietitians consider food service staff as integral to improving nutrition outcomes. Food service staff are willing and able to collect food intake data when they are aware of how accurate data is valued and applied in patient care. The high potential for improvements in nutrition care using technology like the Nutrition Dashboard is constrained by varying levels of trust in the data, unclear guidelines regarding use and poor integration with currently utilised health technology.
Discussion:
Reshaping and enhancing hospital malnutrition care is possible through Nutrition Dashboard technology in the context of empowered food service staff with access to adequate time and training. The current lack of resourcing, education, and integration limits the Nutrition Dashboard's usefulness and acceptability.