Introduction:

the COVID-19 pandemic has had direct implications for clinical nutrition teams (NT), both at an organizational and healthcare level. Since March 2020, expert recommendations on nutritional intervention for patients with COVID-19 have been available.

Objectives:

to describe the nutritional intervention that has been carried out in patients with COVID-19, to estimate the presence of clinical dietitians-nutritionists (DN) in hospitals in Catalonia, and to know the organization of NTs.

Methods:

a cross-sectional study through an online survey directed to clinical DNs at hospitals in Catalonia (March 2021) was made.

Results:

the surveys of 36 NTs, made up of 104 DNs, have been analysed. A total of 44.44 % of NTs had to interrupt or reduce some of their usual activities during the pandemic. When nutritional screening was used, it was carried out early (24-48 h) in 56.25 % of cases, and the most common tool was the NRS-2002 (66.67 %). In 41.67 % of NTs a specific hospital diet was established, this being generally hyperproteic (89.66 %). Oral nutritional supplementation was systematically prescribed by 41.67 % of NTs, prioritizing hyperproteic (97.14 %) and hypercaloric (74.29 %) formulas. It is estimated that clinical DNs are present in approximately 61.54 % of public acute hospitals in Catalonia.

Conclusions:

the results reflect the adaptive capacity of NTs, reorganizing and redistributing their usual tasks and establishing infrequent measures to ensure nutritional support.

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