PP382 - RIGHT ASSESSMENT, RIGHT CARE: IMPROVING NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT ACCURACY, DOCUMENTATION, AND PATIENT EDUCATION THROUGH A QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

PP382

RIGHT ASSESSMENT, RIGHT CARE: IMPROVING NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT ACCURACY, DOCUMENTATION, AND PATIENT EDUCATION THROUGH A QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

S. Pandey^1,*, S. Chopra¹, N. Kundu¹, A. V. Singh², P. Thakur²

¹Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Department, ²Quality, Medanta Hospital, Gurugram, India

Rationale: Accurate nutritional risk assessment is essential for appropriate clinical decision-making; however, variability in assessment practices and documentation gaps can compromise quality of care. This study aimed Nutritional assessment (NA) accuracy, Documentation, and Patient Education through a Quality Improvement Project (QIP).

Methods: This prospective QIP (May-August 2025) included a total of 1299 Inpatients. All patients were nutritionally assessed using NRS 2002 for adults and STAMP for pediatric patients. Phase 1: Baseline audit of 481 patient records using a standardized checklist to identify gaps in NA. Phase 2: Based on gaps, focused interventions were implemented. Anthropometric assessment was strengthened by involving the nursing team. A hospital-specific severity scale was developed to support standardized risk selection, addressing limitations of the existing NRS-2002 and was mapped in HIS. Patient and family education (PFE) practices were improved through structured documentation. Phase 3: Sustainability through trained “Nutritional assessment champions” for real-time monitoring, along with reinforcement of patient education quality and ongoing audit-feedback.

Results: Overall compliance improved from Phase II to III (75% -79.3 %). The most notable improvement was observed in PFE, with compliance increasing from 86.7% to 97.1% following targeted interventions. Compliance in anthropometry documentation showed marginal improvement (94.6% to 95.0%), indicating persistent gaps in this domain. Other parameters demonstrated consistently high compliance (≥97.5%) across both phases.

Conclusion: Implementation of structured audit tools and focused clinical training improved compliance in NA documentation. While patient education practices showed substantial improvement, anthropometry remains an area requiring continued targeted interventions.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared