Family-style dining on a child and adolescent psychiatry unit: a quality improvement project to reduce weight changes in patients.

Abstract

Improving nutritional standards for children has become a national health initiative. However, children who are hospitalized are often at additional risk for poor nutrition and diet. Following a change to family-style dining, nursing staff noted significant patient weight changes. We undertook a quality improvement project to address this issue and promote healthy weight maintenance. Nursing staff requested changes to the types of foods served and placed limits on how much patients were permitted to eat. We also developed a nutrition group to educate the patients on healthy food choices. We were able to reduce weight changes in patients on our unit from a mean change of 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) to a mean change of 0.01 kg (0.027 lb). Patient education, healthy food offerings, and limiting the amount of food eaten at meals had positive outcomes on patient weights during a child and adolescent psychiatry hospitalization.