Nestlé Health Science has launched ENact, a web-based, integrated enteral nutrition program aimed at improving patient outcomes through the adoption of nutrition-focused quality improvement (QI) initiatives in the hospital setting.

Clinical nutrition therapy improves patient outcomes, making it a necessary and valuable part of healthcare. However, despite decades of scientific research that supports how nutrition helps diminish complication risk, reduce hospital length of stay and cost of care, and improve overall quality of care, nutrition continues to be critically under-leveraged and under-valued. In an environment where healthcare outcomes couldn’t be a higher priority, now is the time to make sure clinical nutrition becomes an essential component of high-quality patient care.

“Healthcare mandates today demand more from hospitals than ever before, instilling pressures and setting quality standard requirements. So today, it is imperative that we focus on efforts that truly result in visible, lasting, positive change for patients and hospitals alike,” explained Matthew Bechtold, MD, FACP, FASGE, FACG, University of Missouri Health Systems. “And one tangible solution—the application of targeted, evidence-based enteral nutrition in patient care through programs such as ENact—can result in a myriad of improvements from stronger patient outcomes and streamlined costs to increased organizational efficiencies.”

Nestlé Health Science developed ENact (ENactNutrition.com) to directly address this need and demonstrate the value of nutrition by utilizing QI methodology in the hospital setting. The program focuses on awareness, education and providing healthcare professionals resources to develop and implement nutrition QI projects designed to optimize healthcare outcomes, better achieve mandated performance goals and reduce the cost of care.  

“ENact represents a new stage of innovation for both Nestlé Health Science and the broader healthcare landscape that is changing the management of health and forging an increasingly integral role for nutrition therapy in improving health overall,” said Juan B. Ochoa, MD, FACS, Chief Medical Officer for Nestlé Health Science in North America. “As part of this healthcare evolution, ENact addresses current gaps in nutritional care by supporting differentiated, science-based, nutrition-focused QI initiatives to help healthcare professionals seamlessly and effectively deliver optimized nutrition care for patients.”

ENact offers free resources specific to the development of nutrition QI projects for the acute care setting, with a focus on those who are critically ill, undergoing surgery or malnourished. Featuring a library of QI nutrition toolkits to help implement and champion nutrition projects and track related improvements, ENact also offers educational materials, and downloadable Plan-Do-Study-Act (PSDA) methodology templates to facilitate QI nutrition project development.

“The information and specialized resources unique to ENact allow professionals to learn more about nutrition and QI, and immediately put into action nutrition QI initiatives within their organization,” explained Dr. Ochoa. “At the core of ENact is a program that helps us improve and measure patient outcomes in the clinical setting, allowing hospitals to achieve measurable benchmarks to demonstrate sustainable quality improvement.”