Telehealth offers a feasible method to provide nutrition support to malnourished older adults. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to determine the efficacy of telehealth methods in delivering malnutrition-related interventions to community-dwelling older adults. Studies in any language were searched in five electronic databases from inception to 2nd November 2017. Quality of the evidence was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool and the GRADE approach. Nine studies were identified, with results published across 13 included publications, which had mostly low to unclear risk of bias. There were two interventions delivered to disease-specific groups, one with kidney disease and one with cancer; the remaining seven interventions were delivered to patients with mixed morbidities following discharge from an inpatient facility. Seven studies delivered telehealth via telephone consultations and two used internet-enabled telemedicine devices. Ten meta-analyses were performed. Malnutrition-focused telehealth interventions were found to improve protein intake in older adults by 0.13 g/kg body weight per day ([95%CI: 0.01-0.25]; P = .03; n = 2 studies; n = 200 participants; I2 = 41%; GRADE level: low) and to improve quality of life (standardised mean difference: 0.55 [95%CI: 0.11-0.99]; P = .01; n = 4 studies with n = 9 quality-of-life tools; n = 248 participants; I2 = 84%: GRADE level: very low). There were also trends towards improved nutrition status, physical function, energy intake, hospital readmission rates and mortality in the intervention groups. Overall, this review found telehealth is an effective method to deliver malnutrition-related interventions to older adults living at home, and is likely to result in clinical improvements compared with usual care or no intervention. However, further research with larger samples and stronger study designs are required to strengthen the body of evidence.
Steering planetary and human health towards a more sustainable future demands educated and prepared health professionals. This research aimed: to explore health professions educators’ sustainable h...
Aim: This review explored peer‐reviewed and grey literature to describe the types and characteristics of food or food‐related waste management strategies used in hospital food service settings; their financial, environmental and staffing outcomes; and the barriers and enablers associated with their implementation.Methods: Six electronic databases, 17 Google Advanced searches, and 19 targeted websites were searched for peer‐reviewed and grey literature. Literature reporting the financial, environmental, or staffing outcomes of food or food‐related waste management strategies that reused, recovered energy from, or recycled waste instead of sending it to landfill were eligible. Document screening and review were completed in duplicate, and included peer‐reviewed literature were assessed for quality using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Data were synthesised narratively.Results: Four peer‐reviewed and 81 grey literature records reported 85 strategies. When grouped from most to least favourable according to the food recovery hierarchy they managed waste by: donating surplus food (n = 21); feeding animals (n = 2); industrial use (n = 11); composting (n = 34) and other (n = 17). These approaches had the capacity to reduce waste hauling fees (n = 14), reduce staff handling of waste (n = 3), and decrease the amount of waste sent to landfill (n = 85). Barriers included contamination of waste streams, while enablers included leadership and time‐neutral changes.Conclusion: This review summarises the waste management strategies used by hospitals worldwide that divert food and food‐related waste from landfill, their outcomes, and position in the food recovery hierarchy to enable hospital food services to implement appropriate practice and policy changes to decrease their environmental footprint.
9 May 2014 in Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics