Effects of malnutrition on complication rates, length of hospital stay, and revenue in elective surgical patients in the G-DRG-system. Thomas MN, Kufeldt J, Kisser U, Hornung HM, Hoffmann J, Andraschko M, et al. During this process, positive attitudes, nomination of motivated ‘opinion-leaders’ and concerted management support are helpful facilitators. Ongoing efforts are required to sustainably maintain these positive changes. The results of this study show that the use of a screening tool has a positive, short-term impact on the hospital’s process quality of nutritional care.
The content of the interviews revealed that nearly all professionals involved perceived the overall screening process positively.
The use of the screening tool positively correlated with significant improvements in the process indicators of nutritional care after 1 month, in terms of the number of nutritional interventions and the frequency of documentation of the diagnosis and the patient’s weight and height. The Graz Malnutrition Screening Tool (GMS) was implemented and used in the IG for at least 1 month, while the CG received no intervention. Two comparable hospitals participated in the study, representing one intervention group (IG) and one control group (CG). Qualitative data were analysed by performing a qualitative content analysis using MAXQDA 12. Quantitative data were analysed with descriptive statistics, Chi-squared tests, Student’s t-tests and Kruskal–Wallis H tests, using SPSS 23. A controlled pretest–posttest study was conducted to carry out quantitative analyses, and semi-structured, qualitative interviews were held. This study was conducted to (1) examine the effect of the use of a malnutrition screening tool on process indicators of nutritional care and (2) explore healthcare professionals’ perceptions and opinions regarding this tool. Malnutrition risk screening represents a crucial starting point for the successful management of malnourished patients.