Acquisition and utilisation of anthropometric measurements on admission in a paediatric hospital before and after the introduction of a malnutrition screening tool. Issue 3 (8th April 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Milani, S.; Wright, C.; Purcell, O.; Macleod, I.; Gerasimidis, K.
• Is Part Of: Journal of human nutrition and dietetics. Volume 26:Issue 3(2013:Jun.)
• Page Start: 294
• Page End: 297
• Publication Date: 2013-04-08
• Subjects: Dietetics -- Periodicals; Nutrition -- Periodicals; 613.205
• DOI: 10.1111/jhn.12083
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0952-3871

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="jhn12083-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="jhn12083-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>Acquisition of anthropometric measurements and assessment of growth in paediatric inpatients remains poor. The introduction of malnutrition screening tools that incorporate weight and height/length measurements might improve their acquisition and utilisation in other aspects of patient care.</p> </sec> <sec id="jhn12083-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>Documentation of weight and/length measurements and their plotting on growth charts was evaluated using a case notes review in paediatric inpatients who were admitted before (<italic>n </italic>= 146), during (<italic>n </italic>= 154) and after the pilot (<italic>n </italic>= 151) and official (<italic>n </italic>= 128) clinical use of a screening tool.</p> </sec> <sec id="jhn12083-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Documentation of weight was high in all periods (> 97% of patients). Height/length measurement documentation was negligible (4% of patients) but improved after the introduction of the screening tool (> 62%; <italic>P </italic>< 0.0001), except in infants, who were not part of the screening programme.</p> </sec> <sec id="jhn12083-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Introduction of a screening tool improved the acquisition of anthropometric measurements by nursing staff, although its utilisation by medical staff remained poor.</p> </sec> </abstract>