The management of malnutrition in hospital

Treatable malnutrition may occur in up to 25% of hospital patients, depending on the speciality concerned. Nutritional status may also deteriorate during a prolonged hospital stay. The management and prevention of malnutrition requires a climate in which hospital managers have a positive policy towards nutritional care, a screening system to identify the patients at risk, and appropriate protocols for action. Catering services need to be reorganized to address the problems of the sick, so that appropriate food is not only prepared but delivered in a way which makes it likely to be consumed. For the optimal management of artificial nutrition by the enteral or parenteral route, a skilled nutrition team is both necessary and cost-effective.