Nutritional assessment in chronic wound care.
The WOC nurse may be the only clinician available to assess patients' nutritional status. Thus, the aim of this article is to assist the WOC nurse in any setting to provide a nutritional assessment of all wound care patients. This article reviews the most commonly ordered laboratory tests and provides a brief explanation of how to interpret the findings and why prealbumin levels are the laboratory test of choice for nutritional assessment.
Evans
Elizabeth
E
Infectious Disease/Internal Medicine Practice Wound Care Clinic, Albuquerque, NM, and the Center for Clinical Investigation 87122, USA. cwocnred@hotmail.com
D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000451:nursing*