Tools to identify nutritional risk for older people in the home

Abstract

Community nurses are in an ideal position to identify older home-dwelling people at nutritional risk and thereby to prevent undernutrition. The aim of this paper is to present some nutritional screening instruments for older home-dwelling people and to discuss nutritional issues of importance for community nurses in order to assess nutritional risk and prevent undernutrition. The screening instruments Nutritional Form For the Elderly (NUFFE) and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) are especially developed for screening older people. The Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) is recommended for screening community-living people. Identifying nutritional at-risk persons by means of a screening instrument and being aware of risk factors and protective factors for undernutrition can guide nurses in their nutritional assessment and help them to find tailored interventions in order to prevent undernutrition.