Journal of Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics

Enablers, Barriers and Experiences on Nutrition Care Process Implementation of Hospital Dietitians Employed on Selected Specialty Hospital in Metro Manila, Philippines

In the field of dietetic practice, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics developed Nutrition Care Process Model (NCPM). The Nutrition Care Process (NCP) is a framework that is effective to provide improved nutrition care. The development and implementation of the NCP provided means for dietitian practitioners to become more autonomous within their profession. Many countries started to implement the NCP in their respective workplace setting including hospital setting. With regard to the implementation of the NCP in the international setting, only a few surveys and studies have been done. Since the NCP concept is quite new, very little has been conducted on implementation of the nutrition care process. In the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) released the Guidelines for the Implementation of Nutrition Care Process in Philippine Hospitals through the Administrative Order 2019-0033 last 2019. Since the Philippines launched NCP in hospital settings last 2019, it is important to assess the NCP implementation at the early stage.

Objective: The qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of hospital dietitians as well as to identify the enablers and barriers on the implementation of Nutrition Care Process of selected specialty hospitals in Metro Manila, Philippines.

Method: The study used a cross sectional method with the use of survey questionnaire. A total of 52 Registered Nutritionist Dietitians (RND) from selected specialty hospitals in Metro Manila, Philippines, completed the survey questionnaire. The data being collected undergo a qualitative thematic analysis, condensing the text to meaning units and classifying them into different codes and categories/themes.

Results: The study identified different themes in every category such as implementation strategy and leadership, NCP documentation formats. The study abled to identify enablers in implementation such management support, peer support, proper education, allocated time to practice, professional integrity, regular training session, availability of electronic health record and required by the hospital and; barriers such as lack of manpower, lack of support, lack of time, lack of sufficient data, lack of education and proper training, lack of financial resources, and the effect of pandemic.

Conclusion: In general, the implementation of NCP requires specialty hospitals their own adjustments in this new implementation process, since it was started last 2019. The results within the study are a good start/baseline for the Philippines to adopt the Nutrition Care Process in hospital nutrition and dietetic practice.

Author(s): Melvin E Bernardino

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