Knowledge and Implementation of Nutrition Care Process (NCP) in Hospitals in a Philippine Province

Introduction: The Nutrition Care Process (NCP) was established and ought to be implemented by nutrition and dietetics practitioners all over the world in an effort to create a framework for critical thinking and decision-making for dieticians and nutrition professionals. Despite the advantages it offers, the implementation of NCP among dietitians is yet to occur specifically in some Asian countries. Objective: This study aimed to examine the relationship between the level of knowledge in NCP and the level of its implementation by the chief dieticians working in government and private hospitals in Laguna Philippines. It also aimed to identify the common barriers to NCP implementation. Theoretical Framework: The goal of NCP is to standardize a process describing the workflow of NCP, which includes four distinct and interrelated steps namely: nutrition assessment and reassessment, nutrition diagnosis, nutrition intervention, and nutrition monitoring and evaluation. Method: This descriptive-correlational study surveyed 30 chief dietitians in a Philippine province and used a validated and pilot-tested four-point Likert scale instrument which was converted into online questionnaire to facilitate distribution and retrieval. Ethics approval was granted in the conduct of the study. Statistical treatments used included weighted mean, Pearson r moment correlation and ranking. Results and Discussion: Results revealed that though the respondents are highly knowledgeable in NCP, there was a less implementation of NCP in Laguna hospitals, indicating a gap between theory and practice of NCP. This was supported by the test of relationship which showed that knowledge on NCP did not correlate with its implementation. Barriers to implementation include lack of manpower in the dietary department, problems in the coordination among physicians, nurses, dieticians, and pharmacists, the lack of adequate training in NCP, and the lack of awareness on the implementing guidelines of NCP as provided by the Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippine government. Research Implications: While the sample size of the study was small and the findings cannot be generalized to a wider population of dietitians, results of the study can invite researchers and policy makers to explore, in a more cross-sectional setting, how challenges in implementing NCP can affect the quality of providing nutritional care to various populations. Originality/Value: The results of this investigation could invite researchers and policy makers in nutrition to explore, in a more cross-sectional context, how challenges in implementing NCP can affect the quality of providing nutritional care to various populations and identify other variables which may affect the successful implementation of nutrition care process and the best practises exhibited by hospitals in its realisation.