Evaluation of clinical activities of dietitians-nutritionists in 13 countries using the Professional weighted Activities Score (PwAS): A proposed tool for assessing performance in hospital settings based on activity Prioritization

IF 3.2 3区医学 Q2 NUTRITION & DIETETICS

Nutrition Pub Date : 2025-06-13 DOI:10.1016/j.nut.2025.112877

Solange Parra-Soto , Samuel Durán-Aguero , Mirta Crovetto , Frank Carrera-Gil , Tannia Valeria Carpio-Arias , Edna J Nava González , Saby Mauricio-Alza , Leslie Landaeta-Díaz , Melissa Miranda-Durán , Jhon Jairo Bejarano-Roncancio , Sonia Ivankovich Guillén , Sheila Cerezo-Ríos , Karla Cordón-Arrivillaga , Beatriz Núñez-Martínez , Gloria Maricela Morales-Morales , Eliana Romina Meza Miranda , Diego Pavez , Marisa Canicoba , Alfonsina Ortiz-Fiorito

{"title":"Evaluation of clinical activities of dietitians-nutritionists in 13 countries using the Professional weighted Activities Score (PwAS): A proposed tool for assessing performance in hospital settings based on activity Prioritization","authors":"Solange Parra-Soto , Samuel Durán-Aguero , Mirta Crovetto , Frank Carrera-Gil , Tannia Valeria Carpio-Arias , Edna J Nava González , Saby Mauricio-Alza , Leslie Landaeta-Díaz , Melissa Miranda-Durán , Jhon Jairo Bejarano-Roncancio , Sonia Ivankovich Guillén , Sheila Cerezo-Ríos , Karla Cordón-Arrivillaga , Beatriz Núñez-Martínez , Gloria Maricela Morales-Morales , Eliana Romina Meza Miranda , Diego Pavez , Marisa Canicoba , Alfonsina Ortiz-Fiorito","doi":"10.1016/j.nut.2025.112877","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Objectives: In Latin America, clinical dietitian-nutritionists (DNs) play a crucial role in addressing the rising prevalence of chronic disease and malnutrition within hospitals. However, there is a lack of a common tool to evaluate prioritization activities among nutrition professionals. Having a reliable tool could help standardize and enhance the quality clinical nutrition practice in Latin America, as well as enable optimal utilization of the DN skills, ultimately reducing job burnout and improving quality of care. This study aimed to: 1) develop a Professional Weighted Activities Score (PwAS) to assess the professional activities of DNs in hospital settings according to task prioritization; and 2) apply the new scoring system to a previously collected sample of Latin American DNs.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The PwAS tool was developed using the criteria of a panel of experts from all participating countries. A multicentric and cross-sectional study was conducted among 1222 clinical DNs from 13 Latin American countries to identify their professional activities in public and private health care facilities. The survey comprised 30 questions related to clinical nutrition tasks, with responses weighted according to the priority assigned by an expert panel.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>A PwAS was developed encompassing 19 activities performed by clinical DN, each assigned a prioritization score by a panel of experts in clinical nutrition. The scoring spectrum ranged from 0 to 100, reflecting the variability in DN engagement with their professional activities. The analysis revealed significant differences in the professional activities of DNs across various countries. Guatemala, Paraguay, and Colombia achieved the highest scores, while Costa Rica, Peru, and Uruguay recorded the lowest. Factors positively associated with higher PwAS scores included greater years of experience and multiple specializations. In contrast, working in low-complexity facilities and facing barriers to task performance were negatively correlated with the PwAS.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The significant variation observed in clinical nutrition practices across countries underscores the need for studies to identify underlying causes and develop standardization. The PwAS tool could serve as a valuable resource for hospital administrators seeking to optimize staffing and enhance the quality of nutritional care within Latin American health care systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19482,"journal":{"name":"Nutrition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 112877"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nutrition","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900725001959","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"NUTRITION & DIETETICS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives: In Latin America, clinical dietitian-nutritionists (DNs) play a crucial role in addressing the rising prevalence of chronic disease and malnutrition within hospitals. However, there is a lack of a common tool to evaluate prioritization activities among nutrition professionals. Having a reliable tool could help standardize and enhance the quality clinical nutrition practice in Latin America, as well as enable optimal utilization of the DN skills, ultimately reducing job burnout and improving quality of care. This study aimed to: 1) develop a Professional Weighted Activities Score (PwAS) to assess the professional activities of DNs in hospital settings according to task prioritization; and 2) apply the new scoring system to a previously collected sample of Latin American DNs.

Methods

The PwAS tool was developed using the criteria of a panel of experts from all participating countries. A multicentric and cross-sectional study was conducted among 1222 clinical DNs from 13 Latin American countries to identify their professional activities in public and private health care facilities. The survey comprised 30 questions related to clinical nutrition tasks, with responses weighted according to the priority assigned by an expert panel.

Results

A PwAS was developed encompassing 19 activities performed by clinical DN, each assigned a prioritization score by a panel of experts in clinical nutrition. The scoring spectrum ranged from 0 to 100, reflecting the variability in DN engagement with their professional activities. The analysis revealed significant differences in the professional activities of DNs across various countries. Guatemala, Paraguay, and Colombia achieved the highest scores, while Costa Rica, Peru, and Uruguay recorded the lowest. Factors positively associated with higher PwAS scores included greater years of experience and multiple specializations. In contrast, working in low-complexity facilities and facing barriers to task performance were negatively correlated with the PwAS.

Conclusions

The significant variation observed in clinical nutrition practices across countries underscores the need for studies to identify underlying causes and develop standardization. The PwAS tool could serve as a valuable resource for hospital administrators seeking to optimize staffing and enhance the quality of nutritional care within Latin American health care systems.

查看原文本刊更多论文

使用专业加权活动评分（PwAS）评估13个国家的营养师-营养学家的临床活动：一种基于活动优先级评估医院环境绩效的拟议工具

目的：在拉丁美洲，临床营养师-营养学家（dn）在解决医院内慢性病和营养不良患病率上升方面发挥着至关重要的作用。然而，缺乏一种通用的工具来评估营养专业人员之间的优先活动。拥有一个可靠的工具有助于规范和提高拉丁美洲的临床营养实践质量，并使DN技能得到最佳利用，最终减少工作倦怠，提高护理质量。本研究的目的是：1)建立专业活动加权评分（PwAS），根据任务优先级来评估医院环境中护士的专业活动；2)将新的评分系统应用于先前收集的拉丁美洲DNs样本。方法PwAS工具是根据来自所有参与国的专家小组的标准开发的。对来自13个拉丁美洲国家的1222名临床dn进行了一项多中心横断面研究，以确定他们在公立和私立卫生保健机构中的专业活动。该调查包括30个与临床营养任务相关的问题，根据专家小组分配的优先级对回答进行加权。结果PwAS包括临床DN执行的19项活动，每项活动由临床营养专家小组分配一个优先级评分。评分范围从0到100，反映了DN参与其专业活动的可变性。分析显示，不同国家的DNs专业活动存在显著差异。危地马拉、巴拉圭和哥伦比亚得分最高，哥斯达黎加、秘鲁和乌拉圭得分最低。与较高的PwAS分数正相关的因素包括更长的经验年限和多个专业。相比之下，在低复杂性设施中工作和面临任务绩效障碍与pwa呈负相关。结论：各国在临床营养实践中观察到的显著差异强调了研究确定潜在原因并制定标准化的必要性。PwAS工具可以作为医院管理人员寻求优化人员配置和提高拉丁美洲卫生保健系统内营养护理质量的宝贵资源。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Nutrition 医学-营养学

CiteScore

7.80

自引率

2.30%

发文量

300

审稿时长

60 days

期刊介绍： Nutrition has an open access mirror journal Nutrition: X, sharing the same aims and scope, editorial team, submission system and rigorous peer review. Founded by Michael M. Meguid in the early 1980''s, Nutrition presents advances in nutrition research and science, informs its readers on new and advancing technologies and data in clinical nutrition practice, encourages the application of outcomes research and meta-analyses to problems in patient-related nutrition; and seeks to help clarify and set the research, policy and practice agenda for nutrition science to enhance human well-being in the years ahead.