[Nutritional status of residents of a nursing home and optimisation of the working time of caregivers]. / État nutritionnel des résidents en Ehpad et optimisation du temps de travail des soignants.

The lack of time to devote to care is a frequent complaint of nurses and nursing assistants. The results of a study show that an improvement in the nutritional status of nursing home residents could help to improve their quality of life and to optimise the working time of the nursing teams, thanks to the reduction of pressure ulcers, diarrhoea, falls, fractures and infections.

An innovative solid oral nutritional supplement to fight weight loss and anorexia: open, randomised controlled trial of efficacy in institutionalised, malnourished older adults.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of a solid nutritional supplement on the weight gain of institutionalised older adults>70 years with protein-energy malnutrition. The innovation of these high-protein and high-energy cookies was the texture adapted to edentulous patients (Protibis®, Solidages, France). DESIGN: An open, multicentre, randomised controlled trial. SETTING: Seven nursing homes. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and seventy-five malnourished older adults, aged 86±8 years. INTERVENTION: All participants received the standard institutional diet. In addition, Intervention group participants received eight cookies daily (11.5 g protein; 244 kcal) for 6 weeks (w0-w6). MEASUREMENTS: Five visits (w-4, w0, w6, w10 and w18). MAIN OUTCOME: Percentage of weight gain from w0 to w6 (body mass in kg). SECONDARY OUTCOMES: Appetite, rated using a numerical scale (0: no appetite to 10: extremely good appetite); current episodes of pressure ulcers and diarrhea. RESULTS: Average weight increased in Intervention group (n=88) compared with Control group (n=87) without cookies supplementation (+1.6 versus -0.7%, P=0.038). Weight gain persisted 1 month (+3.0 versus -0.2%, P=0.025) and 3 months after the end of cookies consumption (+3.9 versus -0.9%, P=0.003), with diarrhea reduction (P=0.027). There was a synergistic effect with liquid/creamy dietary supplements. Subgroup analysis confirmed the positive impact of cookies supplementation alone on weight increase (P=0.024), appetite increase (P=0.009) and pressure ulcers reduction (P=0.031). CONCLUSION: The trial suggested that, to fight against anorexia, the stimulation of touch (finger food; chewing, even on edentulous gums) and hearing (intra-oral sounds) could be valuable alternatives to sight, smell and taste alterations.