Tackling undernutrition through appropriate supplement prescribing.
Undernutrition has significant implications for patients' clinical condition and economical consequences for the NHS. However, due to continually increasing prescribing costs for sip feeds, treating undernutrition is often seen as very costly. An audit project in Lothian was undertaken to look at the appropriateness of sip feeds being prescribed. The project found there was a significant level of inappropriate prescribing with 30% of patients having their prescriptions for supplements stopped as they were deemed unnecessary. In view of this, the community dietitians involved developed and introduced a nutritional care pathway to allow a systematic and evidence-based approach to the identification and treatment of undernutrition.
Jones
Jacklyn
J
Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. jacklyn.jones@hotmail.com
D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D017281:Cost of Illness; D019091:Critical Pathways; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009731:Nursing Audit; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000451:nursing; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology