The P-INPAC pilot study will be a 3-phase multi-center research study in hospitalized children, conducted at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, and two other Canadian pediatric centres: Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Quebec and McMaster Children's Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario. P-INPAC is an algorithm which helps to identify, assess, and treat children with malnutrition.
In the first phase of the study, we will perform an audit of health records of all hospitalized patients at one selected study ward, one day of every other week for 8 weeks, at each of the 3 study sites to track their routine nutrition care. We anticipate auditing 80-100 patients/site in this cycle (total 240-300 patients). In addition, ≈12- 20 patients/ site (≈ 60 in total) who consent to detailed malnutrition screening and assessment would also be identified, assessed, and followed up one month after discharge. In addition, a questionnaire assessing the malnutrition knowledge, attitude, and self-perceived practices (KAP) amongst healthcare professionals will be conducted with staff, including trainees, at each site's study ward. Further, the workload of the study ward's Registered Dietitian (RD) will be assessed for 3 days.
In the second phase of the study, the health care team from each site's study ward will be trained by the site implementation research team about the P-INPAC, and how to administer nutritional screening and perform nutritional assessments, which is the Subjective Global Nutrition Assessment (SGNA).
Finally, in the third phase, we will monitor and evaluate the implementation of the first 2 steps of the P-INPAC (screening & assessment) over a period of 4 months assessing the acceptability, adoption, and coverage of improved nutrition care practices on the same pediatric study wards. We anticipate auditing 160-200 patients/site in this cycle (total 480-600 patients). In addition, detailed patient level data collection will take place in a selected group of consented patients, ≈24-40 patients per site from the 3 sites (≈120 in total). We would also follow-up with these patients a month after discharge.
Healthcare providers will be invited to answer the KAP questionnaire post-implementation version. We will compare responses from phase 1 with phase 3 (pre-/ post-follow up). And, the workload of the ward RD will be assessed again over 3 days.
