Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Clinical Safety and Quality Service I (Projects aiming to improve efficiency and effectiveness of care delivery to meet international standards)
Proposed Topic (Second preferred): :
HA Young Investigators Session (Projects to be presented by HA staff who had joined HA for 10 years or less)
Authors (including presenting author) :
Cheung CSB(1), Cheung YF(1), Chan CF (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Surgery, North District Hospital
Introduction :
Malnutrition in hospitalized patients is prevalent yet overlooked. Malnutrition could adversely affect outcomes in surgical patients thus proper nutritional assessment and support are essential for improving prognosis. Currently, in Hong Kong, nutritional care is not frequently emphasized in surgical training, yet surgeons play a pivotal role in initiating and maintaining care plans for patients in the perioperative period.
Objectives :
To evaluate the attitude of surgeons towards roles of nutritional care, assess their level of involvement in formulating nutritional care plans, and identify area(s) of deficit in the knowledge and clinical practice to facilitate planning of training content for surgeons in the future.
Methodology :
A questionnaire is designed to evaluate attitudes on nutrition among surgeons and self-assessment on understanding of nutrition care using 5-point Likert scale questions and to evaluate adequacy of clinical practice on nutrition care using frequency scale questions.
Result & Outcome :
15 surgical trainees in North District Hospital completed the questionnaire in December 2023. The majority of respondents would actively involve dietitians in nutritional screening, assessment, and design of nutritional care plans. However, more than half of respondents do not have the knowledge and habit of performing nutrition assessment and screening routinely by themselves, nor take initiates to amend formulations of enteral or parental nutrition. The majority of surgeons believe they perform nutritional monitoring and manage complications of enteral and parental nutrition adequately.
Most surgeons recognize the importance of nutrition care in surgical patients but may not timely identify patients who are malnourished and at risk of malnutrition. More training should be incorporated to enhance awareness and skills of surgeons.
