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

Objective: 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. Methods: 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). Results: 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. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of hospital food service quality in preventing malnutrition among inpatients. [GRAPHICS]