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Nutrition screening practices amongst australian Residential Aged Care Facilities

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The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objectives

To determine the proportion of Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) in Australia who use a nutrition screening tool on residents to identify those at risk of malnutrition, and to review practice following identification of residents as being at high risk of malnutrition.

Design

Multi-center, cross sectional observational study. Setting: Residential Aged Care Facilities.

Participants

The Director of Nursing at each site was contacted by telephone and asked questions relating to current nutrition screening practices at their residential aged care facility.

Measurements

Data was collected from a stratified sample of 229 residential aged care facilities in each state and territory in Australia.

Results

82% of RACFs (n = 188) use a nutrition screening tool on residents to identify those at risk of malnutrition, however only 52% of RACFs (n = 119) used a screening tool which is validated in the residential aged care setting. There was a significant association between facilities using a nutrition screening tool and the staff members being trained to conduct nutrition screening (p < 0.001). Facilities that employed a dietitian were more likely to use a validated nutrition screening tool (p < 0.005). The most frequently used nutrition screening tool was the ‘Mini Nutritional Assessment–Short Form (MNA-SF)’, which was used by 32% (n = 60) of the RACFs, followed by the ‘Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST)’ (15%, n = 29).

Conclusion

We found that the majority of RACFs in Australia use a nutrition screening tool, however many of these RACFs use a tool which has not been validated in the RACF setting. This study highlights the need for greater dietetic advocacy in using validated nutrition screening tools to ensure malnutrition is identified.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, 2617, Australia

    Jane Kellett, G. Kyle & M. Naunton

  2. School of Clinical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia

    G. Kyle

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences, Latrobe University, Bundoora, VIC, 3086, Australia

    C. Itsiopoulos

Authors
  1. Jane Kellett
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  2. G. Kyle
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  3. C. Itsiopoulos
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  4. M. Naunton
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Correspondence to Jane Kellett.

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Kellett, J., Kyle, G., Itsiopoulos, C. et al. Nutrition screening practices amongst australian Residential Aged Care Facilities. J Nutr Health Aging 20, 1040–1044 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-015-0693-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-015-0693-7

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