Identifying and treating malnutrition in outpatient elderly adults: a quality improvement project to treat malnutrition, improve quality of life, and decrease the gap in adult wellness care

Background/ Purpose: Malnutrition is a common condition that plagues the elderly patient population aged 65 years and older. Malnutrition places seniors at risk for morbidity and mortality, uncontrolled chronic disease management, decreased quality of life, and increased healthcare spending. This study aims to develop a protocol to screen and treat malnutrition in elderly patients in a primary care setting and evaluate the effectiveness of nutritional education on malnutrition and quality of life. Methods: This study used an experimental pre-post study design to evaluate the impact of nutritional education on a sample of outpatient elders after designing a screening protocol. The study duration was three months and baseline and post-intervention nutritional, and quality of life characteristics was assessed with the Mini-Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF) and the Short Form – 36 (SF-36) respectively. Differences in the pre- and post-intervention scores were measure with paired T-test and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Sum. Statistical significance was set at less than 0.05. Results: Most of the study participants were female Hispanics, and the average age was 79 years. The average MNA-SF pre-intervention scores were in the malnourished range while the post-intervention MNA-SF score was in the at-risk range. The educational intervention produced a statistically significant change in the nutritional status of the study participants. Also, this study showed a statistically significant positive difference in the SF-36 score when measured along with the eight SF-36 domains: physical functioning, role limitation due to physical health, role limitation due to emotional health, energy/fatigue, emotional well-being, social functioning, pain, and general health. Conclusion: The current study objectively provides an insight into the burden of malnutrition among elderly patients in New Jersey and the role of nutritional education in improving nutritional status and the quality of life. Uptake of this no-cost intervention is a step in improving the health indices of older patients in the community.DNPIncludes bibliographical reference