Nurses 'untrained in malnutrition'

More than two thirds of nurses admit to having no basic training in how to spot and help patients suffering from malnutrition, a nursing journal has said.

In a survey of more than 600 primary care nurses working in care homes, community hospitals and GP surgeries 86% said they had no training in the subject.

Only 24% said they would feel comfortable dealing with patients who need help with their diet.

Health visitors admitted to having the lowest training rates - only 9% said they had undertaken nutrition training, according to the the figures collected by Nursing in Practice.

Last year the Government announced plans to train nurses in diet and nutrition in a bid to tackle malnutrition among elderly patients. And a poll - also in 2007 - from the Royal College of Nursing found that hospital patients are at risk of malnutrition because there are not enough nurses to make sure they are properly fed.

Almost half (46%) of nurses said there were not enough staff to help patients who may need help with eating and drinking. A similar number (42%) said they did not have enough time to make sure patients ate properly.

A report in 2006 from the charity Age Concern revealed that 60% of older patients - who occupy two thirds of general hospital beds - are at risk of becoming malnourished or seeing their health get worse.

But 65% of the nurses surveyed by Nursing in Practice said they did not routinely screen for malnutrition, and when asked if someone else was doing it, 56% did not know.

And 64% of the respondents reported using only common sense for assessing undernutrition.

Sara Stanner, nutrition communications manager at the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) said: "Nurses need to be confident in the use of appropriate screening tools to identify and monitor those at risk and have a good understanding of nutritional support and practical measures for helping to treat loss of appetite or poor food intake."

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