Strengthening the Diagnosis and Treatment of Malnutrition Through Increased Nurse Involvement: A Quality Improvement Project From Pediatric Wards in Mozambique

Childhood acute malnutrition continues to be a serious health problem in many low-resource settings in Africa. On pediatric wards in Mozambique, missed opportunities for timely diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition may lead to poor health outcomes. To improve inpatient nutritional care, a quality...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global health science and practice 2023-12, Vol.11 (6), p.e2300094
Main Authors: Moçambique, Delfina, Schindele, Andreas, Loquiha, Osvaldo, Martins, Sónia, Sequene, Monica, Seni, Amir, Macassa, Eugénia, Samuel, Lara, Mondlane, Custódio, Vilanculo, Alex, Epifanio, Matias, Buck, W Chris
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child
Hospitals
Humans
Malnutrition - diagnosis
Malnutrition - therapy
Mozambique
Nutritional Status
Original
Quality Improvement
Retrospective Studies
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Summary:Childhood acute malnutrition continues to be a serious health problem in many low-resource settings in Africa. On pediatric wards in Mozambique, missed opportunities for timely diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition may lead to poor health outcomes. To improve inpatient nutritional care, a quality improvement (QI) project was implemented that aimed to engage pediatric nurses in inpatient malnutrition diagnosis and treatment. In 2 Mozambican referral hospitals, for 6 months, the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework for QI was implemented to identify key drivers of the following measures: having complete anthropometric evaluation documented at admission, 3 or more weight measurements per hospitalization week, documentation of nutritional therapy for eligible patients, and documentation of referral for outpatient nutritional rehabilitation after discharge. Clinical data were abstracted from hospital charts and entered into an EpiInfo database, including a 3-month observation period after the project, and analyzed retrospectively. A total of 2,208 children from wards other than malnutrition were included in the analysis. Complete anthropometric evaluation at admission improved from 24.4% 2 months before the QI project to 80.1% during and 75.2% in the 3 months after the project (
ISSN:2169-575X
2169-575X
DOI:10.9745/GHSP-D-23-00094