Pre-Rehabilitative Nutrition, Immunonutrition and Micronutrient Sufficiency in Harm Events and Patient Care Outcomes

Patients requiring hospitalization after elective surgery often have major comorbidities, including malnutrition, thereby benefiting from evaluation and optimization prior to an elective surgery. Within IU Health University Hospital, 75% of surgical admissions have three or more risk factors for complications along with a significant percentage of malnutrition that, in the past, went unrecognized and thus not managed until admission.

This realization was the foundation for the development of a pre-surgical wellness and nutrition program that has provided a process to optimize these conditions prior to admission and prove our hypothesis that pre-admission nutrition intervention, when bundled with evidence-based best practices, results in a significant reduction in harm events, improved patient outcomes, reduction in length of stay and significant cost reductions.

CPE Level: Level 3
CPEU: 1.0

Performance Indicators

• 6.3.9 Disseminates research or performance improvement outcomes to advance knowledge, change practice and enhance effectiveness of services.
• 10.4.4 Makes recommendations for the appropriate use of vitamin and mineral supplementation in the management of health and disease.
• 8.3.6 Keeps abreast of current nutrition and dietetics knowledge and trends.

Learning Objectives

• Identify the significant role of nutrition assessment and provision of nutrition education prior to elective surgical procedures that result in admission to an inpatient status
• Describe the unique physiologic requirements that are present in a post surgical patient that can be met with the use of immunonutrtion.
• Describe the role of key micronutrients in preservation of wound healing.

Speakers

• Nancy Strange
• William Wooden