Premium
Identification of nutritional risk by nursing staff in secure psychiatric settings: reliability and validity of St Andrew's Nutrition Screening Instrument
Author(s) -
ROWELL A.,
LONG C.,
CHANCE L.,
DOLLEY O.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2850.2011.01848.x
Subject(s) - medicine , nursing , mental health , health care , service (business) , psychiatry , family medicine , economy , economics , economic growth
Accessible summary• People with mental illness are also at high risk of physical health problems. Some of these health problems, such as diabetes, are linked to gaining too much weight. Good nutrition, taking enough to drink and eating a balanced diet are all important for being healthy. Staff need to include nutrition as one of the checks when people with mental illness come into their care. • St Andrew's Healthcare provides inpatient psychiatric care for people from age 13 years to older age. St Andrew's Nutrition Screening Instrument (SANSI) is included in each service user's health record and should be completed each month. It asks staff to record each person's weight and also to check that people are eating and drinking the right amount to meet their needs. • This study found that SANSI was able to show which people were at risk of poor health because of their nutrition. It is quick and easy for busy staff to use, which makes it more likely to become a regular check. The way it is written means that different staff will agree on the answers they give. It allows staff to see who would benefit from extra support with eating and drinking, and when they might need more specialist help with this.Abstract Nutrition screening is the first‐line approach to addressing the nutritional needs of service users and has been recommended as best practice by several authoritative and regulatory bodies. A simple and comprehensive screening tool, the St Andrew's Nutrition Screening Instrument (SANSI), was developed for use in an inpatient secure psychiatric setting. The aim of this study was to test the screening tool for reliability and validity. This study identified SANSI as reliable and valid for use in secure psychiatric settings for adolescents and adults. This should give confidence to regulatory and commissioning organizations, that the nutritional risk for patients in an organization which serves a diverse mental health population is being correctly identified, raising staff awareness and allowing appropriate action to be planned.