Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “NUTRITION”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Nutritional support in patients with cancer of the esophagus: impact on nutritional status, patient compliance to therapy, and survival.

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: The multimodal approach to patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma often includes polychemotherapy combined with radiation therapy. Cancer dysphagia and drug-related anorexia, mucositis and vomiting can all lead to malnutrition. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of the administration of enteral nutrition (EN) on the patient's nutritional status, tolerance of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and final oncological outcome. METHODS: Fifty esophageal cancer patients who were to be submitted to chemotherapy (days 1-4 5-fluorouracil (FU) 1 g/m2/day and cisplatin (CDDP) 100 mg/m2/day 1) for two cycles plus radiotherapy (31 Gy) were referred to the Nutrition Support Unit prior to any therapy due to their malnourished status. Twenty-nine dysphagic patients received nutrition via tube (37 kcal/kg/day + 2.0 g proteins/kg/day for 34 days), while 21 others who were not dysphagic were given a standard oral diet (SD). The patients who received EN had a more severe weight loss than the SD patients (16.8% vs 12.8%, P <0.02). RESULTS: The dose of administered EN represented 86% of the planned support, and 70% of the nutritional therapy was administered in the home setting. Administration of EN support resulted in stable body weight and unchanged levels of visceral proteins, while SD patients had a decrease in body weight, total proteins and serum albumin (P <0.01). There was no difference between the two groups in terms of tolerance and response to cancer therapy, suitability for radical resection and median survival (9.5 months). CONCLUSIONS: EN in patients with cancer of the esophagus undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy is well tolerated, feasible even in the home setting, prevents further nutritional deterioration and achieves the same oncological results in dysphagic patients as those achieved in non-dysphagic patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

A randomized study of oral nutritional support versus ad lib nutritional intake during chemotherapy for advanced colorectal and non-small-cell lung cancer.

One hundred ninety-two patients with previously untreated metastatic cancer (102 non-small-cell lung cancer [NSCLC]; 90 colorectal cancer) were randomized to receive either ad lib nutritional intake (control group) or specific nutritional intervention during a 12-week study period when chemotherapy was administered. Those patients randomized to nutritional interventions were counselled to take oral nutrients with caloric intake equal to 1.7 to 1.95 times their basal energy expenditure, depending on their pretreatment nutritional status ("standard" group). An augmented group was counselled to have a caloric intake equivalent to that of the standard group but with 25% of calories provided as protein and additional supplements of zinc and magnesium. Counselling increased caloric intake in both tumor types but reduced weight loss in the short term only for lung cancer patients. Ninety-three NSCLC patients were evaluable for tumor response to vindesine and cisplatin. Overall, only 20.4% of the patients responded, and there were no significant differences in response rates, median time to progression, or overall duration of survival between the nutrition intervention groups and the control group. The tumor response rate to time-sequenced 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and methotrexate in the 81 evaluable patients with colorectal cancer was only 14.8%, and no significant differences in tumor response rates were noted between the three groups. Furthermore, the median time to progression and overall duration of survival were not different for the control, standard, and augmented groups. Nutritional interventions using dietary counselling had no impact on the percent of planned chemotherapy dose administered, the degree of toxicity experienced by patients, or the frequency of treatment delays. A multivariate prognostic factor analysis demonstrated that for lung cancer, the percent of weight loss, serum albumin concentration, and presence of liver metastases were significant (P less than .05) and independent prognostic variables for survival duration. For colorectal cancer, serum albumin, alkaline phosphatase, lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) levels, and percent targeted caloric intake (TCI) were significant independent predictors of survival duration.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Nutritional assessment and nutritional support therapy in elderly patients].

In order to study nutritional assessment and nutritional support therapy for elderly patients, we conducted energy supply therapy on 15 elderly (aged over 75) patients disabled with diseases such as cerebrovascular disease, pneumonia and heart failure. After recovery from acute phase, they were divided into 3 groups, and assigned to 3 different energy supply methods for 2 weeks: Six (3 males, 3 females) could take hospital diet, but only could absorb about 50% of the energy, amounting only 1,000 to 1,400 kcal/day. Additional 246 kcal was given by peripheral parental nutrition (PPN). Five (2 males, 3 females) were unable to take nutrition orally. Therefore, they were given high caloric nutrients by total parental nutrition (TPN), giving (1,222 kcal daily for a week), then 1,666 kcal for another week. Four (1 male, 3 females) also could not take meals orally, and had to be nourished by enteral nutrition (EN) with a nutrient preparation of 1,120 kcal for one week, then with 1,600 kcal for another week. In all 3 groups, the indices of rapid turnover proteins (pre-albumin, retinol binding protein and transferrin), choline esterase and vitamin A significantly elevated after 2 weeks of therapy, though the increase of pre-albumin and RBP in TPN group was slightly below the significant level. The increase in rapid turnover proteins and choline esterase was greater in the order of EN, TPN and PPN. Vitamin C, on the other hand, decreased significantly with treatment in all the groups, while vitamin E remained unchanged.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Artificial nutrition support in intensive care units in Spain. Nutritional and Metabolic Working Group of the Spanish Society of Intensive Care Medicine and Coronary Units (SEMIUC).

OBJECTIVE: A multicenter survey to study the use of nutritional support in patients admitted to the ICU in Spain. DESIGN: The survey was announced during the annual Spanish Society of Intensive Care Medicine and Coronary Units (SEMIUC) congress meeting. SETTING: Questionnaires designed to determine current clinical practice concerning artificial nutrition were sent to the 27 ICU who accepted to participate. PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS: In each center the 235-question form was filled out individually for each patient admitted to the ICU during the month of March, 1992. INTERVENTIONS: To validate the study a preliminary pilot surveys were conducted to ensure that there was a correct interpretation of the questions. The replies were entered into a database for analysis. RESULTS: A total of 1261 patients were studied; 33.9% received artificial nutrition (AN). The administration of AN was significantly higher in the medical group (44%), than in the surgical (37%) and the trauma group (19%). AN was significantly lower in patients admitted to private clinic than public institutions (26.7% versus 34.7%). Among the patients who received AN, enteral nutrition (EN) was administered to 59.7% of the patients, total parenteral nutrition (TPN) to 38.5%, and peripheral parenteral nutrition (PPN) to 18.2%. Medical patients received significantly more EN than surgical and trauma patients. Surgical patients received more PN than medical and trauma groups. CONCLUSIONS: Nutritional support is a common practice in the treatment of ICU patients in our country. All information concerning its use is necessary to optimize it.

Humans↗
PubMed2004

A standardized nutrition care process and language are essential components of a conceptual model to guide and document nutrition care and patient outcomes.

Documentation of clinical services within health care systems has become increasingly significant because greater amounts of information are now required by accrediting agencies, third-party payers, researchers, and others in their evaluation of patient care and because of the increasing emphasis on patient outcomes. Given the multiple users who depend on health care information in the patient record, it is imperative that clinical nutrition practitioners implement a standardized nutrition care process and language to document comprehensively and communicate meaningful information concerning their role in improving patient outcomes. A body of work has led to the development and adoption of a standardized nutrition care process for the dietetics profession. A standardized nutrition care process consistent with the scientific method and a standardized language are two essential components required to articulate a conceptual model for clinical nutrition practice and documentation and distinguish clinical dietetics' unique body of knowledge. The conceptual model serves as an organizing framework to standardize and guide nutrition practitioners' clinical judgments or critical thinking processes and document information linking nutrition care to patient outcomes.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed2006

The SCREEN I (Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition) index adequately represents nutritional risk.

OBJECTIVE: Nutrition risk is a difficult and complex construct to define and measure. Exploratory factor analysis has been completed on SCREEN I, a nutrition risk screening index for community-living seniors. This analysis was completed to confirm this structure and further validate the index as a plausible measure of nutritional risk. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: As part of the Bringing Nutrition Screening to Seniors demonstration project, 1,218 seniors completed SCREEN I. Using structural equation modeling (Amos version 5 software), the original and alternative two-, three-, and four-factor structures were modeled and compared. RESULTS: The best-fitting model was a four-factor structure based on the original exploratory model. Unlike the original model, however, several SCREEN I items cross-loaded on more than one factor, demonstrating the complexity of the construct 'nutritional risk.' CONCLUSION: SCREEN I appears to represent adequately the construct 'nutritional risk' with four factors: Food Intake, Physiologic, Adaptation, and Functional. Further work should be conducted to further elucidate the complex nature of 'nutritional risk' by identifying indirect and direct relationships among the screen items and this construct.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

The impact of nutrition intervention on a reliable morbidity and mortality indicator: the hemodialysis-prognostic nutrition index.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of risk for hospitalization in hemodialysis (HD) patients and examine the impact of oral kilocalorie and protein supplementation in two Midwestern outpatient dialysis centers. DESIGN/SETTING: This was a prospective intervention study conducted at 2 outpatient dialysis centers in the Midwest. PATIENTS: The inclusion criteria for patients were (1) more than 18 years of age, (2) receiving HD 3 times per week, and (3) a functioning gastrointestinal tract. INTERVENTION: Patients who met study criteria and signed an informed consent form were screened using the hemodialysis prognostic nutrition index (HD-PNI) to determine risk for hospitalization. Patients determined to be at high risk (HD-PNI > or =0.8) were included in the treatment group, and patients at low risk did not receive the intervention. They followed their normal nutritional regimen. The intervention group received an oral supplement daily for 3 months. The team of the dietitian, patient, researcher, and physician determined the type of oral supplements based on patient needs and preferences. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Before and after HD-PNI, 24-hour recall and subjective global assessments (SGA) were conducted to assess risk for hospitalization, dietary intake, and nutritional status, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 117 patients were screened, with a total of 26 in the treatment group (high risk) and 91 in the low-risk group. Baseline SGA distribution was 23% for patients with low nutritional risk (group A), 64% for those with moderate nutritional risk (group B), and 13% for those with severe nutritional risk (group C). When the HD-PNI scores of the treatment group were analyzed using paired t-tests, significant differences were observed between pre- and post-HD-PNI mean scores, 1.92 +/- 1.16 and 1.42 +/- 1.59, (P <.05) respectively. When comparing the responders versus the nonresponders by the dependent and independent variables (pre- and post-HD-PNI, SGA, kilocalorie intake, diabetic status, and presence of hypertension) only post-HD-PNI score was significantly different (0.96 +/- 1.69 and 2.20 +/- 1.09, respectively). CONCLUSION: This study succeeded in showing that 22% of the hemodialysis patients in 2 Midwestern centers were at an increased risk for hospitalization. Furthermore, dietitian intervention with oral kilocalorie and protein supplements decreased the patients' hemodialysis prognostic nutrition index scores and thereby decreased the patients' risks for hospitalization.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Arbor Clinical Nutrition Updates: evidence-based clinical nutrition education using the Internet.

The Arbor Clinical Nutrition Updates (ACNU) is a weekly electronic nutrition journal for health professionals. Each issue summarises several recent clinical research papers appearing in the general medical and nutrition literature and which deal with a common nutrition topic. A commentary is added on how this research fits in with previous work, and what it all means for the practising clinician. ACNU is the world's most widely read electronic nutrition publication, with over 100,000 largely health-professional readers in 186 countries. It is published in nine languages and distributed by email without charge in both plain text and Acrobat formats. ACNU utilises a number of the Internet's unique characteristics to facilitate broad reach, currency and active reader feedback. This, together with its brevity and summarising format, helps to maintain its relevance to the nutrition education needs of health professionals, particularly those in clinical practice, and to overcome the factors most commonly reported by health professionals as obstacles to their greater adoption of evidence-based medicine. ACNU is intended to be a collaboration with the primary research journals to extend the reach of new nutrition research findings to a wider community of researchers, academics and clinicians than each journal might otherwise reach individually. As such, ACNU utilises the Internet to promote the goals of open-access publishing and evidence-based medicine.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed2000

Changes in nutrition knowledge among first- and second-year medical students following implementation of an integrated nutrition curriculum.

Existing studies suggest that many of the objectives called for by the National Academy of Sciences in its 1985 report are not being addressed in medical student education. Members of the Nutrition Curriculum Working Group at the UCLA School of Medicine prepared a list of proficiencies in nutrition and developed a coordinated, vertically integrated, two-year nutrition education curriculum to address those objectives. To assess the impact of the curriculum on students' knowledge, the authors tested a cohort of students at repeated intervals over a two-year period using a Nutrition Progress Survey drawn from the Nutrition Test-Item Bank developed at the University of Alabama. There was a significant increase in knowledge over the three administrations of the Progress Survey as measured by total score. This was largely accounted for by an increase in the number of correct responses, which rose from 39% at pre-test to 62% at delayed follow-up. In spite of a significant increase in nutrition knowledge, the low percentage correct indicates that nutritional content should be threaded throughout the core clerkship curriculum as well.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1994

National Dairy Council Award for Excellence in Medical and Dental Nutrition Education Lecture, 1994: nutrition education in medical schools--the prospect before us.

The criteria usually used for evaluating the state of nutrition education in our medical schools include the numbers of schools with required nutrition courses, attendance at nutrition electives, student satisfaction with their nutrition teaching, and the number of postgraduate clinical nutrition programs. These criteria indicate either no change or actual decreases over the years. More important, barriers persist that exclude essential nutrition education for all students in the clinical years. This pessimistic evaluation is tempered by events that, if properly addressed, may lead to improvement. Changes in the traditional medical curriculum are occurring in an increasing number of schools. More curriculum planning, execution, and oversight by interdepartmental faculty (problem-based and small-group learning); a greater emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention; and expansion of primary care offer the potential for more emphasis on nutrition education. This will not happen automatically but requires a vigorous effort by the Society and its members to become involved in the reform movement.

Awards and Prizes↗
PubMed1995

National Dairy Council Award for Excellence in Medical/Dental Nutrition Education Lecture, 1995: medical-nutrition education--factors important for developing a successful program.

Currently, there are no established guidelines which define the goals, the course content, or the approach to developing a successful medical-nutrition education program. The result has been great variability in the approach to teaching nutrition to medical students. A common concern among medical educators is how to teach all of the material currently known. The obvious outcome of trying to teach the constantly expanding body of facts is an increasing demand and competition for instructional time. In turn, nutrition educators have fallen into the trap of vying for more time and claiming success for their program on the basis of their acquired number of hours of instruction rather than on the demonstrated quality or effectiveness of their program. The purpose of this report is to recommend a set of goals for nutrition training of medical students and to highlight those factors which appear to be most (and least) important to achieving those goals. It is my belief that the primary goal of educating medical students should be to sensitize students to the relevance of nutrition in the prevention and treatment of disease. A secondary goal should be to impart important information about nutrition. Relative to these goals, and based on previous studies and on my experience at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, I believe that two factors are critical to the success of any medical-nutrition education program: 1) demonstrated relevance of the course material to the practice of medicine, and 2) positive role modeling.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Curriculum↗
PubMed2005

Nutrition behavior change among EFNEP participants is higher at sites that are well managed and whose front-line nutrition educators value the program.

Effective programs to promote improved dietary practices among low-income families depend on the motivation and performance of front-line nutrition educators, yet little is known about the work context experienced by nutrition workers or how their perceptions of work context relate to program effectiveness. This research examined the perceived work context of nutrition educators, a multidimensional construct developed through formative research, in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) in New York State. We proposed that work context, program management, and program and educator characteristics would be related to program effectiveness (reported behavior change among participants). A state-wide survey of paraprofessional Community Nutrition Educators (CNEs) in 30 program sites was conducted and analyzed in relation to program monitoring data. Greater behavior change was reported by participants in sites whose CNEs gave positive ratings to the value of EFNEP (P < 0.02) and to the managerial practices of their supervisors (P < 0.001). To our knowledge, this is the first time that an association was demonstrated between perceived work context at the front lines and effectiveness of a nutrition program. Higher behavior change scores were also reported at sites in which a greater proportion of participants received individual rather than group instruction (P < 0.001). Associations between participants' reported behavior change and CNEs' perceptions of program value and program management suggest that improvements in these areas could enhance nutrition program success.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1999

Enteral nutrition-related gastrointestinal complications in critically ill patients: a multicenter study. The Nutritional and Metabolic Working Group of the Spanish Society of Intensive Care Medicine and Coronary Units.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the frequency of gastrointestinal complications (GICs) in a prospective cohort of critically ill patients receiving enteral nutrition and to assess its effect on nutrient administration and its relationship to the patient's outcome. DESIGN: Multicenter, prospective cohort study. SETTING: Thirty-seven multidisciplinary intensive care units (ICUs) in Spain. PATIENTS: Prospective cohort of 400 consecutive patients admitted to the ICU and receiving enteral nutrition. INTERVENTIONS: Noninterventional, follow-up study. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Enteral nutrition-related GICs and their management were defined by consensus before data collection. A set of variables related to enteral nutrition administration and the presence of GICs was recorded. During the 1-month study period, 400 patients were enrolled, and a total of 3,778 enteral feeding days were analyzed. The mean time of enteral nutrition was 9.6+/-0.4 days. Mean elapsed time from ICU admission to the start of enteral feeding was 3.1+/-0.2 days. A total of 265 patients (66.2%) received a standard polymeric formula, and 132 (33.8%) received a disease-specific one. Enteral feeds were administered mainly through a nasogastric tube (91%). One or more GICs were presented by 251 patients (62.8%) during the feeding course. The frequency of each particular GIC was as follows: high gastric residuals, 39%; constipation, 15.7%; diarrhea, 14.7%; abdominal distention, 13.2%; vomiting, 12.2%; and regurgitation, 5.5%. Enteral nutrition withdrawal as a consequence of noncontrollable GICs occurred in 15.2% of patients. The volume ratio (expressed as the ratio between administered and prescribed volumes) was calculated daily and was used as an index of diet administration efficacy. Patients with GICs had a lower volume ratio than did patients without GICs (63.1+/-1.20% vs. 93.3+/-0.3%) (p < .001), a longer length of stay (20.6+/-1.2 vs. 15.2+/-1.3 days) (p < .01), and higher mortality (31% vs. 16.1%) (p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of enteral nutrition-related GICs in critically ill patients is high. High gastric residuals is the most frequent GIC. These complications decreased nutrient intake and, if persistent, could expose the patients to undernutrition. Enteral feeding gastrointestinal intolerance seems to have an evolutive effect in prolonging the ICU stay and increasing patient mortality.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1985

Effect of non-nutritive and nutritive suck on gastric emptying in premature infants.

Ten healthy preterm infants were studied to determine if non-nutritive and nutritive suck significantly altered gastric emptying patterns when compared with gavage feeding alone. We used a 10% dextrose meal with phenol red marker and a double sampling technique to determine gastric emptying at 10-min intervals over a 30-min test period. A crossover study design compared the effects of the three feeding methods in each infant. The gastric residual volumes expressed in milliliters per kilogram did not differ significantly when comparisons were made among groups at 10, 20, and 30 min following the test meal. Non-nutritive suck and nutritive suck and swallow of a liquid dextrose meal do not significantly improve gastric emptying in healthy preterm infants. The beneficial effects of non-nutritive and nutritive sucking on the nutritional status of preterm infants, demonstrated by others, are not related to improved gastric evacuation of feeds. Alternative explanations for these beneficial effects require further investigation.

Gastric Emptying↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nutrition, nutritional habits, obesity, and prevalence of chronic diseases in workers.

The purpose of the present investigation is to reveal the specifics of the nutrition, nutritional behavior (habits), the prevalence of obesity and of certain chronic diseases among workers. The subjects were 264 workers (203 males and 61 females) from the ammonium production department of a fertilizer plant, divided into two age groups: under and over 30 years of age. The data were collected by means of a food-frequency questionnaire about daily nutrition and the average quantity of food. The nutritional status was assessed on the basis of BMI. All workers underwent clinical examinations conducted by a range of different experts, including an internal diseases specialist, a neurologist, a cardiologist, an opthalmologist, an otorhino-laryngologist, and a dermatologist. Twenty hematological and biochemical indicators in blood and serum were measured. Assessment of the individual energy intake showed that hyperenergetic nutrition was typical of 67% of workers because of extra intake of fat, which was seen in 87.9% of all individuals examined. The daily fat intake of over 40E% was typical for almost half the females (45.9%). All age and gender groups displayed hyperprotein nutrition with pronounced cellulose (fiber) deficit and a high daily sodium intake. The frequency of overweight individuals (BMI = 25, 1-30 kg/m2) was 43.9%, whereas that of obese individuals (BMI = > 30 kg/m2) was 23.1%. A total of 67% of workers had excessive body mass. The hypertension prevalence rose significantly from 6.9% in Group I to 34.5% in Group II, and to 57.4% in Group III. Coronary heart disease was rare, but the seven cases registered were among the overweight workers. The radiculitis prevalence among workers with normal body mass was two-fold lower in comparison with both groups (overweight and obesity). We conclude that hyperenergetic and unbalanced nutrition is a factor that determines the prevalence of overweight and obesity. A significantly higher percent of overweight and obese workers suffered from hypertension, liver disease, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and eye-vessel diseases. A tendency toward rising radiculitis and musculoskeleton system disease prevalence was seen that parallels the increase in BMI.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Effects of a nutrition education program on the dietary behavior and nutrition knowledge of second-grade and third-grade students.

This research investigated the effects of a nutrition education program on dietary behavior and nutrition knowledge among elementary school-aged children participating in a Social Cognitive Theory-based nutrition education program. Participants included 1100 second-grade and third-grade students selected by convenience-type sampling from public schools in Alabama. A preassessment and postassessment control group design assessed dietary behavior and nutrition knowledge using Pizza Please, a specially designed interactive evaluation tool. A 2 x 2 mixed analysis of variance was used to analyze data. Children in the treatment group exhibited significantly (p < .001) greater improvement in overall dietary behaviors such as consumption of dairy products, fruits, and vegetables, than children in the control group. Children in the treatment group exhibited significantly (p < .001) greater improvement in nutrition knowledge, including Food Guide Pyramid understanding, nutrient-food association, and nutrient-job association, than children in the control group. Results suggest that nutrition education programs that teach positive dietary messages potentially can improve dietary behavior and increase nutrition knowledge in children.

Alabama↗
PubMed1982

Nutrition knowledge and attitudes of elementary school students after receiving nutrition education.

The effect of a nine-week nutrition education program on nutrition knowledge and selected nutrition/food attitudes of kindergarten through sixth grade pupils was examined. Children in the experimental group participated in the program for a nine-week instructional period; those in the control group participated later. Knowledge and attitude assessment instruments were administered to both groups immediately before and after the instructional period. In the lower grades (kindergarten through grade 3), responses on two of the three attitude scales were positively influenced by the nutrition education program. On the third attitude scale there was a trend toward a positive effect in all but one of the lower grades, but the trend was significant only in first grade. In the upper grade levels (4 through 6), the effect of nutrition education on the nutrition and food attitude scale responses was mixed; it tended to be most positive in grade 4 and least positive in grade 6. The nutrition education program also had a significant positive effect on the nutrition knowledge score of pupils in all grades except sixth. In this grade, the trend was positive but was not significant.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1997

Nutrition: a hard nut to crack. An exploration of the knowledge, attitudes and activities of qualified nurses in relation to nutritional nursing care.

Provision of adequate nutrition is recognized as essential, yet malnutrition continues to be reported in patients admitted to hospital. The effects of malnutrition in hospital patients have been well documented; however, most work relating to nutritional management has been produced by members of Nutrition Support Teams, nurse specialists and interested clinicians, whilst the majority of hospitals are still without such specialist posts. This study used two data collection methods to gain information about the attitudes, nutritional knowledge base and nutrition-related nursing care in a large trust hospital in the South of England. A survey of care plans for documentation of nutrition-related nursing activities, carried out on the day of discharge for all patients from five wards over a period of a fortnight (totalling 141 sets of documentation), was followed by a questionnaire to all qualified nurses on these and a further four wards (110 nurses). Results demonstrated that nurses generally felt that nutritional assessment was primarily their responsibility. Whilst there was evidence of knowledgeable and proactive nursing care, it also appeared that there were fairly widespread deficiencies in the knowledge, communication and co-ordination required to ensure consistent good practice.

Adult↗