E - san Food Consumption of Elderly Patients with Bone and Joint Fracture Conditions in Udon Thani Hospital, Udon Thani Province

Abstract

Background and objective: Elderly people had been changed and declined as followed age by illness problems which affect on health status and quality of life. A survey of elderly patients in Udon Thani Hospital was found that the patients had weight loss, be bored with diet, and unsatisfactory with the food of hospital provided, because mostly lists of the food menu were a central regional food which not relevant with their contextual and food consumption behavior due to most patients were E-san people. The researcher has interested to study E-san food consumption of elderly patients with bone and joint fracture conditions in Udon Thani Hospital, which there will be information to plan the food for patients in the hospital continue. This study aims to the effects of E-san food providing for elderly patients with bone and joint fracture conditions in Udon Thani Hospital.

Materials and Methods : This research was quasi-experimental study. Elderly patients of 48 cases  the experimental group the control group who admitted to the bed of orthopedic ward in Udon Thani Hospital, Udon Thani Province. By using the descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, and the inferential statistics to compare the average of  energy and mitrient intake food energy and nutrients and to compare satisfaction before and after the implementation.

Results: The results were found that the experimental group was 66.7% of female; the control group was 75.0% of male, with the averaged age of both groups were 69 years old. The estimated 45.8% and 58.3% of their residences were in the district outside of Udon Thani Province. The average energy intake of the experimental group was 1,657.9 kcal/day and accounted for 94.8% of daily recommended intake and accounted for 68.4% of daily recommended intake. The average energy distribution from earbohydrate, protein and fat of the experimental group was  62.1%, 20.4%, and 17.4%, respectively; the control group received 57.9%, 19.1%, and 20.9%, respectively. The satisfaction of E-san food and normal food received in the hospital which consists of 6 categories including food menu; tasting; color of food; amount of food received; temperatures of food; and timing of food service, after the intervention were found that the mean score of experimental group and control group was  135.4, and 114.8, When compared the scores between the experimental and control groups  it was found that the experimental group had higher scores than the control group statistically significant (p-value<0.01).

Conclusion: Food providing to patients in the hospital should be applied or modified list of menu with consistent and appropriate the contextual or life’s style of food consumption of patients before admitted in the hospital, because it allows patients to eat which there can help reduce or solve the problem of malnutrition in patients, shorten to hospitalization and reduce costs of treatment. This study’s results were  indicated that elderly patients with bone and joint fracture conditions who eat E-san food will be sufficient the food energy and nutrients to the amount that should be received in a day.

Keywords: E-san food, food in the hospital, satisfaction with food,  elderly patients with bone and joint fracture conditions