Nutrition-Focused Quality Improvement Program Results in Significant Readmission and Length of Stay Reductions for Malnourished Surgical Patients

BackgroundAddressing nutrition needs of inpatients results in improved health outcomes. We conducted a post hoc analysis of previously published data. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate the clinical benefits of a nutrition quality improvement program (QIP) in surgical patients when compared with medical patients. MethodsData were collected from 1269 QIP patients and 1319 historical controls. These combined 2588 patients were categorized into surgical (390, 15%) and medical (2198, 85%) patient subgroups. ResultsReadmission rate relative risk reductions were significantly higher among surgical patients when compared with the medical patients (46.9% vs 20.6%, P < .001). Average length of stay decreased significantly for both groups (29.0% and 29.6%, P = .8). ConclusionMalnourished hospitalized surgical and medical patients experienced improved readmission rates and length of stay. However, surgical patients saw a significantly greater reduction in the readmission rate when compared with the medical patients, thus highlighting the importance of nutrition on surgical outcomes. The ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier for this study is NCT02262429.