Abstract
Background: Food insecurity is a public, social, and health concern.
Local Problem: A Food is Medicine Program was developed to address food insecurity.
Methods: A quality improvement initiative was piloted on 3 acute care units.
Interventions: Patients were screened for Social Determinant of Health (SDoH) needs and if identified as food insecure, linked to community resources and provided with a bag of food on discharge. Education was offered to nursing staff and a pre- and postsurvey was administered to assess SDoH knowledge and confidence.
Results: Over a 3-month period, 2354 patients were admitted; 2063 (88%) were screened for SDoH and 220 (10%) were positive for food insecurity. Patients (n = 1525, 74%) were linked to community resources. Nearly all (97%) nurses participated in education and demonstrated increased knowledge and confidence (P < .001).
Conclusions: These data provide preliminary outcomes from the Food is Medicine Program.