Interventions to Improve Nutritional Status

Interventions to Improve Nutritional Status

Introduction and Key Points

Nutritional status describes the health of a person that is composed of the diet, the level of nutrients contained in the body, and normal metabolism. A normal nutritional status is ensured by the proper utilization of nutrients and the consumption of a balanced diet. According to Desroches et al. (2013), chronic diseases in adults arise due to the lack of a healthy diet. Most adults are at the risk of getting chronic diseases because they do not adhere to the right dietary measures. Therefore, the paper will address the types of interventions that are crucial in improving adherence to recommendations that are put in place to enhance nutritional conditions in adults.

Article Search

Some of the search terms used to ensure easy access to articles related to the topic include nutrition, diet, chronic diseases, balanced diet, and nutritional intake.

The databases utilized to locate relevant articles include CINAHL, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Cochrane Library. A total of twelve articles were located from the databases. However, medical subject headings (MeSH) were used to narrow down the number of articles when searching through the Cochrane Library. Clinical Queries were used to search for articles through CINAHL and PubMed. The databases offered crucial sources outside of the ATI module that provided critical information on interventions to improve nutritional status.

Article Findings

The topic is addressed by the article by Desroches et al. (2013), by focusing on assessing the effects that interventions can have on enhancing adherence to dietary advice as a way of managing and preventing chronic diseases in adults. The authors emphasize that poor nutritional approaches can have significant risks to the health of patients; hence, greater adherence to dietary advice is required in controlling chronic diseases.

The authors conducted quantitative research using focus groups. The study involved 9,445 participants, and 123 diet adherence approaches were investigated using intervention groups and control groups. The findings of the study were that thirty-two diet adherence outcomes were in favor of the intervention group; four favored the control group; sixty-two were similar for both groups. In contrast, twenty-five diet adherence outcomes were impossible to assess due to the lack of appropriate data and statistical analysis (Desroches et al., 2013).

The selection of articles focused on those that evaluated interventions that improve adherence to dietary advice in adults. Therefore, this article was selected because it met the selection criteria. In addition, the article provides several interventions that are essential in improving nutritional status.

Evidence for Practice

The evidence provided by the article is that interventions such as telephone follow-ups, feedback, and nutritional tools offer at least one diet adherence outcome. These interventions, however, did not show any difference in diet adherence when compared to the control group. (Desroches et al., 2013). Interestingly, all participants showed at least one diet adherence outcome.

The interventions provided by the study will help nurses in advising patients on how to adjust their practices and nutritional habits. Additionally, nurses will be able to regulate certain nutrition-related activities that may impact nutrition and health outcomes. As these interventions improve the practice, on the other hand, they will as well decrease the existing gaps. For instance, telephone follow-ups will ensure that nurses are dedicated to guaranteeing normal nutritional status among patients. Feedback from patients will help nurses in understanding the nutritional needs of the patients (Desroches et al., 2013). The key weakness of the study is that it does not identify the most effective intervention that can be used to improve the nutritional status of different patients.

Sharing of Evidence

I would share the interventions from the study with nurses and other healthcare professionals. When nurses are informed about new evidence, they can spread the information to others as a way of ensuring that patients receive the best nutritional care. The best way to share the information would be through social media, as it will help to reach a large target audience (Jackson, Fraser & Ash, 2014). The vital resources to accomplish this would be an internet connection and internet-enabled devices such as a laptop. Another way would be through seminars and workshops. A facility and financial resources would be needed to organize the events. The importance of sharing this evidence is to help nurses in improving the nutritional status of patients.

Conclusion

Proper utilization of nutrients and the consumption of a balanced diet constitutes a normal nutritional status. However, failure to adhere to the right dietary advice results in chronic diseases among adults. The databases used to locate the articles include CINAHL, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Cochrane Library. The identified article focused on assessing the interventions that can be used to enhance adherence to dietary advice. Some of the interventions to improve nutritional status include telephone follow-ups, feedback, contract, and nutritional tools. This information can be shared with nurses through social media, seminars, and workshops.