Impact of kitchen organization on oral intake of malnourished inpatients: A two-center study

Abstract Aim To determine the impact of the type of hospital kitchen on the dietary intake of patients. Methods A cross-sectional, two-centre study, of cooking in a traditional kitchen (TK) and in a chilled kitchen (CK). Subjective global assessment (SGA) was used for nutritional diagnosis. Before study start, a dietician performed a nutritional assessment of the menus of each hospital. All dishes were weighed upon arrival to the ward and at the end of the meal. Results 201 and 41 patients from the centres with TK and CK respectively were evaluated. Prevalence of malnutrition risk was 50.2% at the hospital with TK and 48.8% at the hospital with CK ( p  = 0.328). Forty-eight and 56 dishes were nutritionally evaluated at the hospitals with TK and CK respectively. Intake analysis consisted of 1993 and 846 evaluations in the hospitals with TK and CK respectively. Median food consumption was 76.83% at the hospital with TK (IQR 45.76%) and 83.43% (IQR 40.49%) at the hospital with CK ( p Conclusions Cooking in a chilled kitchen, as compared to a traditional kitchen, may increase energy and protein intake in hospitalized patients, which is particularly beneficial for malnourished patients.