Hospital Food Services, Patient Satisfaction and Malnutrition Risk Inpatients: A Pilot Study

Malnutrition is a preventable issue that complicates patient recovery and increases healthcare costs. This study evaluated inpatients' satisfaction with food services and its impact on malnutrition.

This cross-sectional study included 310 patients (52.6% female, median age 42 years) hospitalized for at least seven days. The NRS-2002 screening test was administered within two days of admission and repeated on day seven, along with the Acute Care Hospital Foodservice Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (ACHFPSQ).

The risk of malnutrition increased from 21.9% initially to 38.7% on the 7-day follow-up evaluation (p < 0.001). Higher ACHFPSQ scores were associated with a decreased malnutrition risk, with significant correlations found between food quality, meal service quality, staff/service issues, and lower malnutrition risk (p < 0.05). Very weak positive but statistically significant relationships were detected between the total scale score, body weight, and BMI (p < 0.05). The risk of malnutrition decreased as food quality (OR = 0.891; p < 0.001), meal service quality (OR = 0.915; p = 0.001), and staff/service issues scores (OR = 0.925; p = 0.010) increased.

This study highlights the importance of hospital food service quality in preventing malnutrition among inpatients.