Malnutrition Risk Assessment

Malnutrition is a significant health issue that weakens the immune system, delays wound healing, increases the risk of infections, and prolongs recovery times. Early identification and management are essential for patient health and wellbeing.

Assessment of nutritional status is a central part of care, as good nutrition improves quality of life, accelerates recovery, and reduces complications. Hospital patients, elderly individuals, those with chronic conditions, and surgical patients are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition, highlighting the need for systematic evaluation.

Assessing the risk of malnutrition enables targeted interventions that improve treatment outcomes and reduce costs. Systematic screening and timely nutritional interventions can shorten hospital stays, decrease complications, and enhance patient health.

Data Collection Assessment of malnutrition risk is based on three primary tools:

• NRS 2002 (Nutritional Risk Screening 2002): Primarily used in hospitals for assessing the nutritional status of adult patients.
• MNA (Mini Nutritional Assessment): Developed specifically for evaluating the nutritional status of elderly patients.
• StrongKids: Designed for assessing malnutrition risk in children.

Data regarding malnutrition risk is collected either continuously from patient information systems or monthly as prevalence data. In the latter method, only results are collected without so-called “zero data,” meaning only relevant information is recorded.

Systematic screening enhances nutritional care and overall treatment outcomes, thus reducing treatment duration, costs, and mortality risk.

Results

Results The assessment provides several key indicators, such as:

• Coverage of risk assessments: The proportion of patients evaluated for malnutrition risk.
• Distribution of malnutrition risks among assessed patients: How different risk levels are distributed among evaluated patients.