Evaluation of the activity and medical nutrition therapy types used by nutrition support teams in hospitals in the Greater Poland voivodeship
Paweł Juszczak, Jakub Noskiewicz, Patrycja Sosnowska, Michał Sawicki, Magdalena Frankowicz, Jarosław Rogacki, Przemysław Mańkowski
Introduction: Nutrition therapy is medical treatment that includes assessment of patients’ nutritional status, their nutrient
requirements, supply of nutritional products in appropriate quantities, and monitoring all of these processes. The nutrition support
team is responsible for the organization of the nutrition therapy.
Aim: To evaluate the activity of nutrition support teams in hospitals in the Greater Poland voivodeship.
Material and methods: An evaluation of nutrition support teams’ activity and the types of nutrition therapy used in hospitals
in the Greater Poland voivodeship was made. In order to collect all the necessary data, a questionnaire with closed-ended
questions was sent to all hospitals registered in the voivodeship.
Results: Out of 25 hospitals that returned the completed questionnaire, 15 (60.0%) confirmed the presence of a nutrition
support team in their structures. In previous reports it was 17 centres (68.0%) that had such team, but sometimes the team was
not working to its full extent. 73.0% of hospitals were satisfied with both the presence of the team and its activity concerning
proper fulfilment of entrusted tasks. The activity of nutrition support teams in the Greater Poland voivodeship correlated closely
with the size of the hospital.
Conclusions: Nutrition support teams function in the majority of hospitals in the Greater Poland voivodeship. Nutrition
teams are more common in larger hospitals. In order to provide proper medical nutrition therapy, the legal obligation to appoint
nutrition support teams in the hospitals should be restored.
Key words: nutrition support team, nutrition therapy, enteral nutrition, parenteral nutrition
Gastroenterology Rev 2021; 16 (1): 43–46
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5114/pg.2021.104735
