Malnutrition Awareness Week 2024: Midland Memorial Hospital Quality Improvement
September 16-20, 2024
Malnutrition Awareness Week 2024 - EDUCATE. EMPOWER. ELIMINATE.
Malnutrition Awareness Week is an annual, multi-organizational campaign created by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) to spotlight nutrition’s vital role in health and recovery and to educate the public on the importance of discussing their nutrition status with their healthcare professionals, especially when they are hospitalized.
Overcoming Challenges Around Hospital Malnutrition
A year ago in September, Midland Memorial Hospital went live with Junum’s Malnutrition Clinical Decision Support solution, MalnutritionCDS™ to help identify, diagnose and treat patients who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. So in recognition of Malnutrition Awareness Week 2024, we check back in with Kaitlyn Greb, MHA/MBA, RD LD, Director of Food and Nutrition Services at Midland to look back at their implementation and celebrate their success.
Midland Memorial Hospital more than tripled their malnutrition diagnosis rate from the previous year. Dietitians worked together to document malnutrition consistently using evidence-based guidelines, contributing to improved provider communication and enhanced reporting capabilities. By increasing alignment between the dietitians and the provider documentation, it is facilitating stronger communication between providers when making plans for patient care.
Passionate leaders like Kaitlyn and the dietitians at Midland Memorial Hospital and campaigns such as Malnutrition Awareness Week help us focus on nutrition as a patient right and its vital role in health and recovery. Put together with improved workflows, we can address the poor outcomes associated with unrecognized and untreated malnutrition. Malnutrition Awareness Week serves as a reminder of the devastation that undetected malnutrition can cause for patients and families. However, inspiring stories such as at Midland Memorial Hospital can help motivate other nutrition leaders to create change to reduce the frequency of undiagnosed malnutrition in their hospitals.
For more about Kaitlyn and Midland Memorial Hospital - Read the Case Study
You can learn more about about how Junum helps hospitals enhance their malnutrition care programs using technology by visiting our website, junum.io or contacting us at sales@junum.io.