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Acquisition and utilisation of anthropometric measurements on admission in a paediatric hospital before and after the introduction of a malnutrition screening tool
Author(s) -
Milani S.,
Wright C.,
Purcell O.,
Macleod I.,
Gerasimidis K.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of human nutrition and dietetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1365-277X
pISSN - 0952-3871
DOI - 10.1111/jhn.12083
Subject(s) - medicine , anthropometry , documentation , malnutrition , pediatrics , emergency medicine , computer science , programming language
Background Acquisition of anthropometric measurements and assessment of growth in paediatric inpatients remains poor. The introduction of malnutrition screening tools that incorporate weight and height/length measurements might improve their acquisition and utilisation in other aspects of patient care. Methods Documentation of weight and/length measurements and their plotting on growth charts was evaluated using a case notes review in paediatric inpatients who were admitted before ( n = 146), during ( n = 154) and after the pilot ( n = 151) and official ( n = 128) clinical use of a screening tool. Results Documentation of weight was high in all periods (> 97% of patients). Height/length measurement documentation was negligible (4% of patients) but improved after the introduction of the screening tool (> 62%; P < 0.0001), except in infants, who were not part of the screening programme. Conclusions Introduction of a screening tool improved the acquisition of anthropometric measurements by nursing staff, although its utilisation by medical staff remained poor.