Malnutrition is a health condition that results from eating a diet that lacks adequate amounts of one or more nutrients and in some cases may have too much of the same. The individual usually experiences significant health problems as a result of the diet. Unfortunately, the condition can affect individuals who have a normal or excessive body mass index. This is a major issue as it significantly makes it even more difficult to identify those who are at risk for malnutrition. The following reports is an informative research that provides practice and registered nursing practitioners with essential methodologies proven to be effective in identifying those who are at risk of being affected. There are various methodologies used by nursing professionals around the world and the discussed methodologies are just a few that could effectively help in addressing the problem. A critical evaluation of rge recent studies will help highlight the gaps in the literature and significant developments needed in future studies.
Article Search
The Individuals of all ages can develop malnutrition as a problematic health condition based on their diet. However, the studies used in this research are provided by the ATI module as an effective approach of identifying malnutrition in a wide range of populations. The health of senior citizens is at a high risk and could potentially lead to premature death. Therefore, the studies focus on effective methodlogies of identifying those at risk of malnutrition among the individuals above the age of 55 years. The medical database CINAHL was used to search for articles outside of ATI module. Keyword searches were used with publication restriction limited to within five years which helped marrow down the number of peer research. Over 10,000 articles were found in the basic search this was narrouwed down to under 200 when more factors of the such wer included from where three articles would be selected for use.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Findings
The authors of the studies used for the purpose of this paper incorporated varying methodologies and research designs in the evaluation process. Isenring and cohort (2012) incorporated a cross-sectional observational study. The approach enabled ease of identifying validity of several malnutrition screening tools and anthropometric parameters in comparison to the nutritional assessment tools (Matarese & Charney, 2017). The study was chosen for its critique of these measures when incorporated in an aged care setting. The study by Tsai and colleagues (2010) incorporated a cross-sectional study design that would incorporate the use of statistical data to conduct evaluation of the different methods of addressing the nutritional problem among the elderly people. Platek and cohort (2011) undertook a cross-sectional study design using quantitative data that would identify effective measures of addressing nutritional concerns among adult patients suffering from cancer. The study was chosen to ascertain the need for a universal nutritional assessment standard for patients with chronic illnesses. The Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF), and the Simplified Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire are some of the toolsidentified as effective measures of identifying at-risk populations (Matarese & Charney, 2017). The nutritional status of the individuals are measured using corrected arm muscle area, calf circumference, body mass index (BMI), Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). The various methods will be evaluated for their effectiveness and validity in use through out the study.
Evidence
Each of the studies demonstrate critical importance in the current literature on malnutrition. Tsai et a;l. (2010) recognized the importance of BMI cutpoints on specific population as a measure that helps improve the predictive ability of MNA tool. Furthermore, the calf circumference measure was noted to have effective capability in identifying risk for malnutrition among elderly patient. Isenring, Banks, Ferguson, and Bauer, (2012) also affirm the validity of calf circumference while adding possible use of arm muscle area along with the use of other malnurition-specific screening tools like MST, MUST, MNA, and MNA-SF. Findings made by Platedk and colleagues (2011) showed that there is critical need for a universal tool that various medical practitioners can implement in nutritional screening upon admission. The aforemention non-invasive tools like calf circumference and arm muscle area could effectively provide nursing practitioners with easy and effective predictive approaches (Ye et al., 2018). One of the weaknesses of the evidence provided is the effectiveness of the measurement tools on a broader population group. Tsai and cohort (2010) as well as Isenring et al. (2012) only focus on the elderly population hence the findings cannot be extrapolated to the rest of society.
Sharing Evidence
The available evidence is integral to the health professionals in various disciplines. The malnutrition problemis one that affects various aspects of care from public health, geriatric care, and oncological care (Baek & Heo, 2015). It is imprtant to share this information through departmental memos and workshops where professionals are likely to receive the information. In this case, each of these resources provide valuable information that highlights ways of improving identifying risks for malnutrition. It is essential that nursing professionals are provided with this information as an effective approach to dealing with the problem at hand (Ye et al., 2018). The close interaction of nurses and the patients hey attend to will require the use of one of the above mentioned tools for predicting risk for malnutrition. Nursing professionals have ability to enforce interventions that minimize arising risks evident.
Conclusion
The above paper identifies the various tools that have been developed for identifying risks for malnutrition. With the problem common among individuals of all age groups, the primary focus is on adults and senior citizens who may present higher risk. It is evident that individual those with various cancer types and the elderly are at risk hence the need for identifying the most appropriate measures with valid predictive ability. Evidence showed that malnurition-specific screening tools like MST, MUST, MNA, and MNA-SF are most appropriate in predicting risk while some non-invasive measures like calf circumference and arm muscle area can also be incorporated. It is critical that this information is shared with various health practitioners including the nursing professionals. The close relationship between the nurse and patient is at the heart of this need s it will help identify risk faster and provide feedback for ineffectiveness in use.
References
Baek, M. H., & Heo, Y. R. (2015). Evaluation of the efficacy of nutritional screening tools to predict malnutrition in the elderly at a geriatric care hospital. Nutrition Research and Practice, 9 (6), 637-643.
Isenring, E. A., Banks, M., Ferguson, M., & Bauer, J. D. (2012). Beyond malnutrition screening: appropriate methods to guide nutrition care for aged care residents. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 112 (3), 376-381.
Matarese, L. E., & Charney, P. (2017). Capturing the elusive diagnosis of malnutrition. Nutrition in Clinical Practice, 32 (1), 11-14.
Platek, M. E., KPf, M. J. V. P., Possinger, M. C. S., DeNysschen, C. A., Horvath, M. P., & Brown, J. K. (2011). Comparison of the prevalence of malnutrition diagnosis in head and neck, gastrointestinal and lung cancer patients by three classification methods. Cancer Nursing, 34 (5), 410-416.
Tsai, A. C., Chang, T. L., Wang, Y. C., & Liao, C. Y. (2010). Population-specific short-form mini nutritional assessment with body mass index or calf circumference can predict risk of malnutrition in community-living or institutionalized elderly people in Taiwan. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 110 (9), 1328-1334.
Ye, X. J., Ji, Y. B., Ma, B. W., Huang, D. D., Chen, W. Z., Pan, Z. Y., ... & Yu, Z. (2018). Comparison of three common nutritional screening tools with the new European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) criteria for malnutrition among patients with geriatric gastrointestinal cancer: a prospective study in China. BMJ Open, 8 (4), e019750.
