86% Of Primary Care Nurses Lack Basic Training In Nutrition Support, UK
This is despite the government's plans to include nutrition as part of the nurse training programme with the aim of tackling malnutrition among elderly patients. In October last year health minister Ivan Lewis warned that nurses who fail to help people eat and neglect older people should face disciplinary action.1 Mr Lewis said: "We somehow have to change the culture that says nutrition is not important. It is as important as access to the right medication."
District nurses had the highest training rates, at 30%. However, one district nurse said: "I feel we need more nutritional training and for every patient to be assessed and reassessed regularly."
"It would be very useful to have ongoing nutrition training embedded into nurse training," said another district nurse based in London. "I feel it is overlooked in many instances."
Malnutrition in hospital and the community affects more than three million patients and costs the NHS £7.3bn a year.2 However, it is estimated that 70% of malnutrition in the UK goes unrecognised and untreated.3 Respondents were asked whether they routinely screen for malnutrition. Sixty-five percent of respondents said they don't routinely screen for malnutrition, and when asked if someone else was doing it, 56% didn't know.
Despite the wide range of malnutrition screening tools available, 64% of the respondents reported using only common sense for assessing undernutrition.
According to Sara Stanner, nutrition communications manager at the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF): "Nurses need to be confident in the use of appropriate screening tools to identify and monitor those at risk and have a good understanding of nutritional support and practical measures for helping to treat loss of appetite or poor food intake. These results reflect what nurses have been telling us for some time - that they need more education and training in many aspects of nutrition."
Sarah Schenker, dietitian at the BNF, concludes: "This survey underlines the need for serious action to raise the awareness of nursing staff of the causes and consequences of poor nutrition. Recognising the risk of malnutrition and then acting quickly is paramount. We do not have to turn our nurses into nutritionists, but there must be a mechanism in place to take action that is simple and effective."
References
1. Nurses to get nutrition assessments. 2007. Available from here.
2. RCN. Improving nutritional care: evidence for practice. Available fromhere.
3. Schenker S. Undernutrition in the community. NiP 2006;30:76-80. http://www.nursinginpractice.com
You can read the full article online: http://www.nursinginpractice.com/surveys
The Nursing in Practice-Fresenius Kabi Online Survey took place from 7 July to 25 July 2008. A total of 640 primary care nurses completed the survey - 42% practice nurses, 13% nurse practitioners, 10% community nurses, 5% district nurses, 5% health visitors and 25% others. The survey was independently sponsored by Fresenius Kabi.
Other results:
- 77% of respondents have a coordinated multidisciplinary team to support patients, which included dietitians (82%), GPs (82%), district nurses (77%), community pharmacists (40%), community matrons (37%), care home nurses (20%), homecare company nurses (9.6%) and other allied health professionals (21%).
- 60% of respondents refer to a GP for prescriptions, 13% advise on prescriptions and 8% make decisions about prescribing nutrition support themselves. Many respondents would also refer to a dietitian and liaise with colleagues: "I would discuss with my dietitian colleague and then I would prescribe using their advice." Another nurse commented: "I would discuss nutrition prescriptions before issuing them as I have limited knowledge of the subject."
- 89% of respondents screen for malnutrition when there is clinical concern (eg, unintentional weight loss, fragile skin, poor wound healing), 34% screen on initial registration at GP surgeries, and 60% screen at other opportunities (eg, health checks, flu injections).
- 85% of respondents use body mass index (BMI) as a tool for screening. Other tools included the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) (17%), locally produced screening tools (10%), Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) (5%) and common sense (64%).
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About Fresenius Kabi
Fresenius Kabi is a healthcare company specialising in the specific areas of clinical nutrition and infusion therapy. The company was formed in 1999, following the merger of the pharma division of Fresenius Ltd with the nutrition business of Pharmacia & Upjohn Ltd.
Fresenius Kabi is dedicated to the concept of "Caring for Life". This means that Fresenius Kabi continuously strives to develop specialist skills in the fields of nutrition and infusion therapy, and, in so doing, provides innovative solutions to meet the highest standards of patient care.
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86% din învãþãmântul primar Îngrijire Asistentele Lipsa formare de bazã În Nutrition Support, Marea Britanie - 86% Of Primary Care Nurses Lack Basic Training In Nutrition Support, UK - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate