📄 Abstract
Hospital malnutrition is a significant public health concern, particularly in resource-constrained provincial hospitals where nutrition services may not be consistently integrated into routine patient care. This study examined the cases of nutritionally at-risk patients and the integration of the Nutrition Care Process (NCP) in selected public hospitals in Tarlac Province. A qualitative case study design was used with 30 purposively selected nutritionally at-risk patients from seven public hospitals. Data were gathered through Department of Health nutrition risk screening and semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis, supported by descriptive frequencies and percentages. Half of the participants were overweight or obese (50%), while 36.7% were underweight and 13.3% had normal nutritional status, demonstrating that nutritional risk extended beyond visible undernutrition. The most frequently reported dietary risk factors were high sodium intake (40.0% of cases), high sugar intake (33.3%), and high fat intake (30.0%). Across the cases, nutrition assessment was the most visible NCP component, while nutrition diagnosis, individualized intervention, monitoring and evaluation, referral to nutritionist-dietitians, and discharge planning were inconsistently implemented. Individualized nutrition intervention or counseling was absent in 86.7% of cases, and 76.7% of participants were unaware of available hospital nutrition services. The findings indicate that hospital meal provision and general dietary advice alone are insufficient. Nutrition integration requires standardized screening and referral, individualized counseling, stronger dietitian involvement, caregiver education, discharge planning, and hospital-to-community continuity systems. From a public administration perspective, effective nutrition integration requires policy operationalization through staffing, protocols, training, monitoring, resource allocation, and interagency coordination.
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📚 How to Cite:
Juliet L. Malidom, RND , BOOSTING NUTRITION INTEGRATION IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM: CASE OF NUTRITIONALLY AT-RISK PATIENTS IN THE PROVINCE OF TARLAC , Volume 12 , Issue 8, August 2026, EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) , Pages: 334 - 339 ,