The Dietetic Consultation: an Illuminative Evaluation

Plain-language summary

This study aims to understand the experience of the dietetic consultation from the perspective of nutritionally vulnerable older patients receiving oral nutrition support and dietitians, as well as other key stakeholders involved in the process of such a consultation. Malnutrition is prevalent and increases the risk of health complications and socioeconomic burden. Patients with malnutrition are often older patients with complex needs and therefore may require specialist knowledge and skills to provide nutritional support. Dietitians are uniquely skilled to assess the multiple factors that underpin diet and to tailor nutritional support, which could help improve outcomes. Although the causes of malnutrition are complicated, its treatment typically involves oral nutritional supplements, dietary advice or food-based interventions, either separately or in combination. Effectiveness of the various oral nutritional support interventions has been studied, with the findings on food-based interventions suggesting more research is needed and the widespread research on ONS suggesting contradictory results and interpretations. Despite this, the factors responsible for these inconsistencies have not been identified. There are no studies so far that have examined the patient experience of the consultation with the dietitian in the context of nutritional support. Although the patient experience of consultations is increasingly being recognised as an important part of investigating their effectiveness in healthcare, to date, there are a number of limitations in this literature, leaving the role of the patient experience in dietetic consultations for the management of malnutrition, poorly understood. It's probable that this is one contributing factor to the variation observed in the literature. A review of the literature indicates a need for exploration of the patient experience and its possible impact on the success or failure of the dietetic encounter. This study aims to address some of the knowledge gaps. The use of qualitative interviews will allow an in-depth understanding of the experience of the dietetic consultation for the provision of nutrition support and will utilise an overall illuminative evaluation approach to broaden that understanding by considering data from various sources. Participants will include older patients who are considered nutritionally vulnerable, their consulting dietitians and patient-nominated key stakeholders. Four clinical settings within the Trust where dietitians would often see patients for nutritional support will be included.

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