The effect of dining location on nutritional care quality in nursing homes.

BACKGROUND: Nutritional care quality in nursing homes (NHs) is often characterized by inadequate and poor quality feeding assistance and inaccurate medical record documentation of residents' oral food and fluid intake.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the effect of dining location on indicators of nutritional care quality in NH residents.

DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study in 34 NHs with 761 residents.

RESULTS: Nutritional care quality was significantly better according to two of four indicators if a resident ate meals in the dining room compared to their rooms. First, residents who were rated by NH staff as requiring assistance to eat were more likely to receive assistance in the dining room compared to their rooms. Second, NH staff medical record documentation of oral food and fluid consumption was more accurate when residents ate in the dining room.

CONCLUSIONS: Residents at risk for unintentional weight loss should eat their meals in a common area, such as the dining room, to promote adequate feeding assistance care provision and accurate medical record documentation of oral food and fluid consumption.