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