Abstract
The role of a nurse in promoting the appropriate eating behaviors and habits among patients, in turn, is often underplayed. Therefore, there is a need to reconsider the current approach toward building awareness among patients and introduce the target population to proper eating habits with the help of educating strategies. The research is aimed at exploring the efficacy of meal supervision, as well as patient and nurse education, as the tools for improving the efficacy of nutrition and, therefore, enhancing patient outcomes
Introduction
The BMC Nursing guidelines for abstract submission were used for this paper. The guidelines require that the following elements should be included in the paper: Keywords, Methods, Results and Discussion, and Conclusion (Instructions for authors, 2017).
Keywords
Eating disorders, meal supervision, patient education, nurse education, social networks.
Title of Project
The title of the project is “Meal Supervision and Education for Patients and Nurses as the Means of Addressing Eating Disorders among Inpatients.”
Problem Statement
Malnutrition remains a problem in the modern nursing environment (Hage, Ro, & Moen, 2015). Eating disorders are common among both inpatients and outpatients (Kells et al., 2013). While the reasons for the identified issue may vary, the former being partially triggered by the lack of support from nurses and the latter caused by the absence of awareness, malnutrition needs to be addressed accordingly.
Purpose of the Project
The project is aimed at proving that the use of meal supervision coupled with patient and nurse education involving the active use of social networks will allow for rapid growth in awareness rates among the target population, thus, leading to improved patient outcomes.
Research Question(s)
Does the incorporation of meal supervision and the patient- and nurse-oriented education into the strategy for managing malnutrition among patients allow for a drop in the number of eating disorders?
Hypothesis
It is assumed that the promotion of meal supervision and education for both patients and nurses is more efficient in improving patient outcomes (i.e., reducing the number of eating disorders) as opposed to the current approach based on providing patients with basic guidelines.
Methodology
The current research is aimed at exploring quantitative relationships between the variables under analysis. Therefore, the use of a qualitative design should be deemed as appropriate. A randomized controlled trial will be conducted to study the effects of the identified approach. Seeing that a comparative analysis of the efficacy of two interventions is required, it will be reasonable to adopt Student’s t-test as the basis for determining the efficacy of the suggested strategy.
Steps in Implementing the Project
The study starts with a review of the available literature. Afterward, participants are selected from a local healthcare facility to partake in the research. The target population is asked to sign the informed consent letters. The participants are split into groups A (suggested intervention) and B (traditional therapy). After each of the groups receives the appropriate treatment, the results are compared. Then, the implications for the further analysis and identification of the malnutrition management framework are proposed.
Results and Discussion
The study shows quite clearly that there is a significant improvement in patient outcomes with the introduction of the education-based approach and the meal supervision strategy. The research outcomes point to the fact that the enhancement of patient awareness levels, as well as the focus on nurses’ education, allows for a massive improvement in the quality of nursing services.
Conclusion
Promoting nurse education and enhancing the communication process between nurses and patients is crucial for addressing issues such as malnutrition. As a result, patients are provided with an opportunity to develop the required eating habits that will contribute to their faster recovery. Therefore, the adoption of the strategies based on meal supervision and social-networks-based educations should be viewed as the next step in improving the well-being of the target population.
References
Hage, T. W., Ro, O., & Moen, A. (2015). “Time’s up” – Staff’s management of mealtimes on inpatient eating disorder units. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 3(1), 13-21. Web.
Instructions for authors. (2017). Web.
Kells, M., Davidson, K., Hitchko, L., O’Neil, K., Schubert-Bob, P., & McCabe, M. (2013). Examining supervised meals in patients with restrictive eating disorders. Applied Nursing Research, 26(2), 76-9. Web.