Nutritional Screening and Assessment in Hospitalized Patients

Abstract

Nutritional screening and assessment in patients with malnutrition is the critical first step for nutritional care. Although nutritional assessment is a rigorous process that includes obtaining diet and medical history, current clinical status, physical examination, anthropometric data, laboratory data, and often functional and economic information, it is a very effective and worthy practice in terms of reducing various complications, morbidity, mortality and total medical costs. Systematic approaches with appropriate tools for nutritional screening and assessment are needed based on the clinical situations in each institute.