The future of nutrition care in hospitals

Malnutrition affects up to 50% of hospitalised patients (Ray et al., 2014; Barker et al., 2011) and has severe consequences for patients and the health care system. Malnutrition increases the risks of mortality (Lim et al., 2012) and complications like pressure injuries (Banks et al., 2010), infections (Schaible and Stefan, 2007) and falls (Vivanti et al., 2011) and is associated with increased length of stay, readmissions and higher hospital costs (Lim et al., 2012). Inadequate dietary intake is the major modifiable risk factor for malnutrition and the majority of patients fail to meet their nutritional needs in hospital (Thibault et al., 2011).
Source: International Journal of Nursing Studies - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research