Nutrition support team can reduce nutritional product expense: An ımplementation in a neurology ıntensive care unit

Abstract

Objective: “Quality and Accreditation for Qualified and Effective Health Services” of the Health Transformation Program of Turkey mandated the establishment of nutrition support team in hospitals in 2016. Methods: Nutrition support team was set up for the Neurology Intensive Care Unit of Gaziantep 25 Aralık State Hospital at the end of 2016 to manage the complex nutritional needs of the patients. Pre-nutrition support teams’ nutritional requirements were defined by the patients’ doctors, whereas after 2016 nutritional therapy and interventions were defined by doctors, dieticians, and nurses of nutrition support team. Results: This study evaluates the effectiveness of nutrition support team on the hospital cost and improvement of the treatment. The parenteral nutrition products in energy decreased from 75.98% to 39.02% and the enteral products in total energy increased from 24.02% to 60.98% after nutrition support team. The total product expenses decreased from 80 029.53 ₺ to 75 550.00 ₺. Conclusion: The Hospital Quality Standards require the establishment of the nutrition support team which helps to decrease nutrition product expenses and increase energy supply via enteral nutrition products instead of parenteral nutrition products.