Nurses' positive attitudes to nutritional management but limited knowledge of nutritional assessment in Korea

Background: Nurses' involvement in nutritional management has received greater emphasis as an accountable factor for the nutritional status of patients. Studies have shown that there are deficiencies in awareness of the importance of nutritional assessment and limited nutritional knowledge in nurses. Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate nutritional attitudes and knowledge of nurses working in the hospital environment. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted. It is focused on nutritional management with regard to assessment of nutritional status and implementation of nutritional care. Nurses were recruited from the university hospital in Seoul, Korea. Findings: A majority of nurses had positive attitudes towards patients' nutritional status and had a high desire to receive nutritional information. However, they had limited knowledge of nutrition, especially nutritional assessment criteria which are basic to the evaluation of patient's nutritional status. Nurses did not perform the nutritional assessment appropriately in practice. Conclusions: These findings suggest that nurses have limited nutritional knowledge and they use nutritional assessment criteria poorly in clinical settings. This study provides a framework for developing nutritional management programmes and a standardized protocol for nutritional assessment.