Sara Hennessy, M.D.

On June 1, 2020, UT Southwestern created its inpatient nutrition support team, the first of its kind on campus, to provide inpatient nutritional consultation services for all patients at Clements University Hospital (CUH). Led by Dr. Sara Hennessy, assistant professor in the Division of Burn, Trauma, Acute and Critical Care Surgery, and Dr. Jeffrey Browning, associate professor and chair of clinical nutrition, the team’s vision is to address nutritional needs among inpatients at CUH through a multidisciplinary approach.

The nutrition support team brings together experts from surgery, medicine, nursing, dietetics, and pharmacy to coordinate care and nutritional support. Research shows that the use of a multidisciplinary group can improve patient safety and outcomes and have a positive financial impact on health care organizations. Early team involvement with patients can prevent or treat malnutrition, the result of an insufficient or poorly balanced diet or medical condition. Malnutrition is a consequence of many diseases and is also caused by chronic illness, major surgery and poor oral intake or absorption. “The reason this is so important for us to focus on as an institution is that nutritional deficiencies expand across all disciplines and departments in the hospital,” explains Dr. Hennessy. “Approximately 25%-50% of all hospitalized patients are malnourished, while only 5% of this population is recognized by physicians. Malnutrition leads to significantly higher rates of morbidity and mortality, with higher hospital lengths of stay, readmissions, and hospital charges.”

The nutritional service line concept was part of a project Dr. Hennessy developed for the Leadership Emerging in Academic Departments program at UT Southwestern, for which she won the Capstone Project Award in 2019. With the support of surgery Chair Dr. Herbert Zeh and in collaboration with Dr. Ezra Burstein, chief of the gastroenterology division, and Dr. Jeffrey Browning, chair of clinical nutrition, the concept of a nutrition support service was approved. “That was really exciting for me,” shares Dr. Hennessy. “When I put together the Capstone project, it was just an idea. With the support of Dr. Zeh, great collaboration across departments, and the effort from nutritional services and pharmacy, we were able to make this a reality.”

While new to UT Southwestern, the nutrition support team concept has been around for some time. “Nutrition service lines exist at most major academic centers and was just something we hadn’t quite developed yet here,” explains Dr. Hennessy. Nutrition teams are used at medical centers at Vanderbilt University, the Cleveland Clinic, and Duke University, among others.

Members of the team include

• Dr. Sara Hennessy, Assistant Professor, Division of Burn, Trauma, Acute and Critical Care Surgery
• Dr. Jeffrey Browning, Associate Professor and Chair of Clinical Nutrition
• Dr. Sneha Bhat, Assistant Professor, Division of Burn, Trauma, Acute and Critical Care Surgery
• Dr. Hillary Prince, Assistant Professor, Division of Burn, Trauma, Acute and Critical Care Surgery
• Amy Denbow, Manager
• Amanda Lister, Lead Registered Dietician
• Meagan Johns, Clinical Pharmacist

“I’d really like to highlight our dietitians and pharmacist, Amy, Amanda, and Meagan. They’ve put a lot of effort into this service and we wouldn’t be successful without them!” says Dr. Hennessy. 

While the service line is still in its infancy, its administrators have approval to hire an advanced practice provider, and recruitment is underway. 

The nutrition support team is rolling out its services in four phases:

Phase 1: Evaluation and management of any patient requiring parenteral nutrition

Phase 2: Evaluation and management of any patient requiring enteral nutrition

Phase 3: Consultation for any patient who scores positive on a malnutrition risk assessment upon admission

Phase 4: Transitioning of patients from inpatient nutrition support to outpatient nutrition support. This phase will include an interface between inpatient and outpatient support providers that has not existed at UT Southwestern before. 

The team is currently in phase I, and its long-term goal is to ensure appropriate parenteral nutrition use and accurately diagnose malnutrition in the hospital, which in turn should help reduce costs and decrease length of stay, readmissions, and complications. 

“We see every patient on parenteral nutrition in the hospital, and the new service line is a success,” concludes Dr. Hennessy. “With this team, we can make a significant difference in patient outcomes.” 

For more information about the inpatient nutrition support team, contact Sara.Hennessy@UTSouthwestern.edu. 

The nutrition support team has created an excellent nutrition dashboard to track the team’s impact on patients at UT Southwestern: