Impact of preoperative nutritional status on surgical outcomes in patients with pediatric gastrointestinal surgery

Complicated urachal cyst in two pediatric patients: a case report

BACKGROUND

A urachal cyst has a rare incidence that has been reported as 1/5,000 live birth.

CASE PRESENTATION

We report two patients with a complicated urachal cyst, a 5-year-old female who presented to the emergency department with severe abdominal pain and a 3-year-old female presenting with abdominal pain and constipation. Upon laparoscopic exploration both patients had complicated urachal cysts which were adherent to the urinary bladder.

CONCLUSION

Complicated urachal cysts can present with acute abdominal pain.

Healthcare providers' knowledge, attitude, and practice on quality of nutrition care in hospitals from a developing country: a multicenter experience

BACKGROUND

Despite the fact that malnutrition can affect both recovery and outcome in acute care patients, little is known about malnutrition in Palestine, and even less is known about the assessment of malnutrition knowledge, attitudes, and practices (M-KAP) toward healthcare providers and nutrition care quality measures in hospitalized patients. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the M-KAP of physicians and nurses in routine clinical care and determine the influencing factors.

METHODS

From April 1 to June 31, 2019, cross-sectional research was performed at governmental (n = 5) and non-governmental (n = 4) hospitals in the North West Bank of Palestine. Data were collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire from physicians and nurses to collect information on knowledge, attitude, and practices related to malnutrition and nutrition care, alongside sociodemographic characteristics.

RESULTS

A total of 405 physicians and nurses were participated in the study. Only 56% of participants strongly agreed that nutrition was important, only 27% strongly agreed that there should be nutrition screening, only 25% felt food helped with recovery, and around 12% felt nutrition as part of their job. Approximately 70% of participants said they should refer to a dietitian, but only 23% knew how and only 13% knew when. The median knowledge/attitude score was 71, with an IQR ranging from 65.00 to 75.00, and the median practice score was 15.00 with an IQR of 13.00-18.00. The mean knowledge attitude practice score was 85.62 out of 128 with SD (9.50). Respondents who worked in non-governmental hospitals showed higher practice scores (p < 0.05), while staff nurses and ICU workers showed the highest practice score (p < 0.001). Respondents with younger age categories, working in non-governmental hospitals in the ICU as practical and staff nurses, showed the highest KAP score (p < 0.05). Significance positive correlations were found between respondents' knowledge/attitude and practice scores regarding the quality of nutrition care in hospitals (r = 0.384, p value < 0.05). In addition, the result also revealed that almost half of respondents believed that the most important barriers to inadequate intake of food at the bedside are related to food appearance, taste, and aroma of meals served (58.0%).

CONCLUSIONS

The research revealed that inadequate knowledge was perceived as a barrier to effective nutrition care to the patient. Many beliefs and attitudes do not always translate into practice. Although the M-KAP of physicians and nurses is lower than in some other countries/studies, it highlights a strong need for more nutrition professionals in the hospital and increasing nutrition education to improve nutrition care in hospitals in Palestine. Furthermore, establishing a nutrition task force in hospitals elaborated by dietitians as the unique nutrition care provider will assure to implementation of a standardized nutrition care process.

The Use of the Perioperative Nutrition Score in Postoperative Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Preoperative malnutrition is associated with increased postoperative morbidity. The perioperative nutrition score (PONS) was developed to identify patients at risk of malnutrition. We sought to assess the correlation between preoperative PONS and postoperative outcomes in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective cohort study of IBD patients, less than 21 years of age, who underwent elective bowel resection between June 2018 and November 2021. Patients were divided based upon whether they met PONS criteria. The primary outcome was postoperative surgical site infections.

RESULTS

96 patients were included. Sixty-one patients (64%) met at least one PONS criteria, while 35 patients (36%) met none. PONS positive patients more frequently received preoperative TPN supplementation (p < .001). There was no difference in preoperative oral nutritional supplementation between groups. Patients that screened positive for PONS had a longer hospital stay (p = .002), more readmissions (p = .029), and more surgical site infections (p = .002).

CONCLUSIONS

Our data highlight the prevalence of malnutrition in the pediatric IBD population. Patients who screened positive had worse postoperative outcomes. Further, very few of these patients received preoperative optimization with oral nutritional supplementation. There is a need for standardization of nutritional evaluation to improve preoperative nutritional status and postoperative outcomes.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

III.

TYPE OF STUDY

Retrospective Cohort.

Nutritional screening tool for critically ill children: a systematic review

CONTEXT

Nutritional screening tools (NSTs) are used to identify patients who are at risk of nutritional status (NS) deterioration and associated clinical outcomes. Several NSTs have been developed for hospitalized children; however, none of these were specifically developed for Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) patients.

OBJECTIVE

A systematic review of studies describing the development, application, and validation of NSTs in hospitalized children was conducted to critically appraise their role in PICU patients.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, SciELO, LILACS, and Google Scholar were searched from inception to December 11, 2020.

DATA EXTRACTION

The review included 103 studies that applied NSTs at hospital admission. The NST characteristics collected included the aims, clinical setting, variables, and outcomes. The suitability of the NSTs in PICU patients was assessed based on a list of variables deemed relevant for this population.

DATA ANALYSIS

From 19 NSTs identified, 13 aimed to predict NS deterioration. Five NSTs were applied in PICU patients, but none was validated for this population. NSTs did not include clinical, NS, laboratory, or dietary variables that were deemed relevant for the PICU population.

CONCLUSION

None of the available NSTs were found to be suitable for critically ill children, so a new NST should be developed for this population. AQ6.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION

PROSPERO registration no. CRD42020167898.