Be sure to check out UAND member, Wendy Phillips, MS, RD, CNSC, CLE, FAND with her co-author Maureen Janowski at FNCE this year!

They will be presenting their research on, “RDN Productivity Benchmarks for Long Term Care Facilities,” Monday October 23rd at 11:45 AM at the poster section.

Abstract:

Background: Due to pressure in long term care (LTC) facilities to manage and evaluate resources effectively, nutrition managers need benchmarks against which to compare dietitian staffing. Regulatory agencies do not require certain staffing ratios for RDNs, but they must now report RDN hours centrally along with the other facility staff.  This data will be publicly available in the future.

Objective: Establish productivity benchmarks for RDN staffing in LTC facilities.

Design:  Dietitians tracked daily activities on a standardized productivity log over a 6 month period.

Participants/setting: LTC facilities with similar policies and expectations for RDN staffing were included.  Census ranged from 10 to 749 residents.  Hours worked in rehab or sub-acute units were excluded.

Results:  RDNs completed 3.41 interventions/hour spent in direct patient care, with 1.73 residents seen/hour spent (more than one intervention was completed per resident).  Since not all RDN time was spent in direct care activities, the number of interventions/total hour worked was 1.89 and residents seen/total hour worked was 1.01.  RDNs spent an average of 24% of time in indirect care activities, 17% in Direct Care Meetings/Rounds, and 59% of time in direct resident care.

Conclusions/Discussion: A standardized productivity system should track RDN activities to establish benchmarks for internal and external comparison, especially as RDN staffing in LTC facilities will become more visible through public reporting.  This report contributes to the sparse literature about RDNs activities in LTC facilities, which can guide decisions for resource allocations. Future research should determine optimal RDN staffing for improving patient outcomes.