Views of public hospital professional nurses on adult malnutrition and their role in nutrition-related activities

Abstract

Background: Nurses’ involvement in the identification of malnourished patients, referral to a dietitian and continuous involvement in nutritional care is vital to combat malnutrition in acute settings. Aim: The aim of the study was to determine professional nurses’ (PN’s) views about malnutrition as well as their role in nutrition-related activities concerning adult in-patients wards. Setting: Eastern Cape Public hospitals, South Africa. Methods: A cross-sectional design was utilised in this study. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 89 consenting PN’s working in 11 adult wards across three public hospitals. Results: Approximately half of the participating PN’s reported that they consistently weigh patients on admission (49.4%), record dietary intake (53.4%), and discuss nutrition management on ward rounds (51.1%). A statistically significant relationship was found between ward speciality and how frequently PN’s weighed patients (χ2 = 88.24; p < 0.001. The majority of participants (84.3%) were unaware of screening tools, but were willing to do nutritional screening, with body mass index (BMI) being the preferred choice. Only 11.4% of PN’s reported that they received in-service training, nevertheless regarded nutrition knowledge to be important. Three quarters (76.3%) of nurses expressed an interest in the role of a Nutrition Link Nurse, a ward based British system that augments nurses’ nutrition skills through additional education and training, to help promote excellence in nutrition care. Conclusion: Although PN’s valued nutrition knowledge, current hospital-based practices to identify malnutrition, were suboptimal. Basic nutrition training for health care professionals, including PN’s, should be escalated to improve the skills and capacity to identify malnutrition and to facilitate appropriate inter-professional management thereof.

Keywords

• Malnutrition
• Inter-professional
• Nutrition
• Nurses
• Roles