AHP SO02 - A Quality improvement project to improve the Nutritional teaching within the General Surgery Department

Abstract Background Malnourished patients have greater incidences of post operative complications which can prolong hospital stay. Dietitians improve the nutritional status peri-operatively to reduce complications and accelerate recovery in hospital. Given that the doctors working in surgery are junior doctors who work on a rotational basis, means that they have little time to get to know the roles of the MDT, hence they are faced with the challenge of having little knowledge of complex nutritional needs of the surgical patient. The aim of the quality improvement project is to improve the nutritional teaching within the General surgery department to improve clinical practice. Method Using Plan-do-study-act (PDSA) Methodology, a Multi-disciplinary-team was created to identify ways to improve our nutritional knowledge. An initial survey was collated and distributed throughout the department to establish the current knowledge of nutritional challenges. From the initial survey, a need to improve the teaching of nutrition to the department was highlighted. The plan implemented itself in the form of informal teaching and educational resources to provide teaching to the department. Further questionnaires were used to assess the value of the teaching sessions. Pre/Post-teaching session surveys were used to assess the participant progress and satisfaction of the teaching session. Results The initial survey showed that on average the individuals sampled had a neutral/basic knowledge of the nutritional topics. In addition the survey addressed a need for surgical nutritional teaching to which 100% of respondents answered ‘Yes’. 100% of the respondents gave a 7/10 above or higher rating for how much they would benefit from the teaching and 100% of the cohort either requested teaching sessions alone or both a teaching session and information booklet. Following these interventions; a Pre/ Post-teaching survey was conducted to provide insight of how the department responded to the teaching, which was overall well received. Conclusion The role of nutrition is an important factor that affects surgical outcome and having clinical knowledge of nutritional needs and complications allows us to improve our clinical practice and patient care. The project identified a need for educational improvement and the project has allowed the department to establish regular quarterly nutritional teaching for rotational training and provided educational resources that have been demonstrated to be an effective intervention within the department. The project provided an overall positive engagement to improve our nutritional knowledge and will undoubtedly have a marked impact on quality of care, patient outcomes and their experience.