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Family‐Style Dining on a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit: A Quality Improvement Project to Reduce Weight Changes in Patients
Author(s) -
Praglowski Nancy
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of child and adolescent psychiatric nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.331
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1744-6171
pISSN - 1073-6077
DOI - 10.1111/jcap.12107
Subject(s) - limiting , medicine , unit (ring theory) , child and adolescent psychiatry , weight loss , body weight , life style , nursing , family medicine , psychiatry , pediatrics , psychology , environmental health , obesity , mechanical engineering , mathematics education , engineering
Background Improving nutritional standards for children has become a national health initiative. However, children who are hospitalized are often at additional risk for poor nutrition and diet. Following a change to family‐style dining, nursing staff noted significant patient weight changes. We undertook a quality improvement project to address this issue and promote healthy weight maintenance. Methods Nursing staff requested changes to the types of foods served and placed limits on how much patients were permitted to eat. We also developed a nutrition group to educate the patients on healthy food choices. Results We were able to reduce weight changes in patients on our unit from a mean change of 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) to a mean change of 0.01 kg (0.027 lb). Conclusions Patient education, healthy food offerings, and limiting the amount of food eaten at meals had positive outcomes on patient weights during a child and adolescent psychiatry hospitalization.