Malnutrition high in Australian hospitals
New research has revealed one in four hospital patients are malnourished and many of these problems are not being picked up by hospital staff. A high proportion of all hospital patients are aged over 65 years.
According to the study in Nutrition and Dietetics published by Wiley-Blackwell, the result is poor patient outcomes and added financial pressure for hospitals.
The study, involving 275 patients at a large Melbourne hospital, looked at the prevalence, diagnosis, documentation and referral rates for malnutrition.
Of the 275 patients in the study, 23% were malnourished. Only 15% of malnourished patients were correctly identified and less than half of these cases were referred to a dietitian.
Study co-author, Dr Tim Crowe, said the research found that malnutrition was common in the hospital setting, and many patients were undiagnosed and untreated. He said this resulted in poorer outcomes for patients such as infections, bed ulcers and increased length of hospital stay.
