The introduction of a paediatric nutrition support program led by a clinical dietitian at a low-resource hospital setting in Malawi

Figures & data

Table 1. Challenges encountered and solutions offered by the dietitian during the first 4 months of the nutrition support program at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital.

Challenges	Solutions
High number of patients requiring nutrition support	Engage other health professionals who can conduct nutrition assessment and provide interventions such as expressed breastmilk and formula fortification
Inadequate supply of nutrition products	Use existing therapeutic feeds and fortify expressed breastmilk and formula that is available
Difficulty in monitoring exact intake and losses	Subjectively rely on guardian recall upon explaining to guardians the importance of this and how to assess intake and losses
Poor communication with dietitian when discharging patients	Add label in patient files to call dietitian at the time of discharge for counselling
Inadequate time to follow up children receiving outpatient treatment after discharge	Review specific outpatients such as those with feeding difficulties upon referral

Table 2. Themes arising from qualitative interviews of health professionals at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital.

Themes	Phases
Lack of nutrition support prior to the introduction of the nutrition support program	Before the implementation of the nutrition support program
Overall significance of introducing the nutrition support program	During the introduction of the nutrition support program
Receptiveness of guardians to the nutrition support program	During the introduction of the nutrition support program
Involvement of health professionals in the nutrition support program	During the introduction of the nutrition support program
Sustainability of nutrition support in low-resource hospital settings in Malawi	Future of the nutrition support program