Moderation of a foodservice assessment artefact in nutrition and dietetics programs.

AIM: Foodservice is a key component of dietetics education and practice internationally yet benchmarks for competency are limited. This study sought to review and moderate an assessment artefact of foodservice work integrated learning (WIL) to develop a shared understanding of one tool which may be used in a suite of evidence to demonstrate competence. METHODS: The foodservice curricula and assessment artefacts were described for the foodservice program at each of four participating universities. An assessment artefact from WIL, the report, was identified as an indicator of foodservice competence common to each program. Each university provided four purposively sampled WIL reports, assessed in duplicate by two academics from other participating universities using the corresponding university assessment rubric. Collated assessment results, along with the original assessment, were presented back to assessors. A semi-structured group discussion explored variations in assessment results, factors influencing decisions, and potential changes needed for assessment documentation. RESULTS: There was variation in assessment outcomes between independent assessors. In some instances assessors did not consistently deliver the same assessment outcome, nor rank students in sequential order of performance. This variation was less where an absolute ranking of satisfactory/unsatisfactory was applied. The assessor discussion revealed three key concepts: importance of understanding the project scope; challenges which influence assessment decision making; importance of understanding the broader program of assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Assessment inconsistencies emphasise the importance of multiple assessors and assessment artefacts across a programmatic assessment model, and the need for a clear understanding of competence in nutrition and dietetics.

Validity of four nutritional screening tools against subjective global assessment for inpatient adults in a low-middle income country in Asia.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Hospital malnutrition is a common problem worldwide. This study aims to assess the validity of widely used nutritional screening tools for hospitalized adults in acute care settings in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Participants in this study were 693 adult patients from six general public hospitals, in a multi-center survey undertaken in April and May, 2016. The criterion validity of the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), Nutrition Risk Screening (NRS-2002) and Mini Nutrition Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF), modified MST (MST combined with low BMI), and BMI as independent tools were assessed using Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) or low BMI (<18.5 kg/m2) as the reference method. Area under curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated using the ROC curve method to determine the validity of screening tools. RESULTS: NRS-2002, modified MST (MST + low BMI), MUST, and BMI at 21 kg/m2 showed moderate/fair validity compared to the reference method (SGA or BMI). MST alone and MNA-SF showed poor validity due to low sensitivity (41.8 and 35.0% for MST and MNA-SF, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Based on specificity and sensitivity, the first choice for the most appropriate screening tool for use in Vietnam is the NRS-2002, following by the MST + BMI, MUST, and BMI alone at the cut-off value of 21 kg/m2. Further investigation on the feasibility and acceptability are required to determine the most appropriate screening tools for use within the Vietnamese context.

Developing a valid meal assessment tool for hospital patients.

Patients' perspectives of meal items are critical in supporting effective decisions about meal provision in hospitals. The objective of this research was to develop a valid meal assessment tool (MAT), to quickly and accurately assess patient's views on meal items, for ultimate use in a large multi-centre trial. Nine iterations of the meal assessment tool were tested for content and construct validity in a large acute care hospital to determine wording, number scale and physical orientation for responses. Patients were interviewed to assess content validity, ease of completion, timing and assistance requirement. Following expert feedback, the resulting tool consisted of a 7 point scale measuring three meal components (meat, starch and vegetable), with ratings for flavour and taste combined, appearance and quality. Measures of overall satisfaction, meal expectation, age and gender were included for direct comparability with the valid published Acute Care Hospital Foodservice Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (ACHFPSQ). Three hundred and four surveys were completed in the development process (77% response), 53% male, mean age 56 years. Best completion rates were by interview with completion times of 2-5 min. The tool was then made available in a large multi-centre meal assessment project (n = 14,500) and was able to detect differences between variations of the same meal and between the same ingredient prepared in alternative ways. The MAT proved successful in discriminating meal components in terms of quality, taste and appearance and is useful for those planning and assessing meals in a variety of healthcare settings.