Free Nursing Dissertations - This Is Done In Four Stages Of Assessment, Planning, Implementation And
This is done in four stages of assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation (Roper et al, 2000; Wesley 1995).
Nutritional status provides an indication of how well-nourished individuals are. This includes the assessment of the levels and functional adequacy of the nutrients that are available to the body after being used for metabolic processes (NDNS, 2004). Malnourishment may not always indicate poor physical condition or some sort of physical disorder as there may be a difference between the amount of a nutrient required to prevent deficiency, (as for example, in case of deficiency of vitamin C and scurvy), and the amount required to achieve optimal status within the body for a given nutrient. Nutritional status can be described with physical measurements (body mass index, waist circumference and waist to hip ratio) and results of the blood sample analyses (NDNS, 2004 DoH).
A higher body mass index can lead to obesity and associated disease conditions such as high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Usually blood sample analysis shows lower or higher levels of vitamins than required and can lead to several abnormal conditions in the body. The Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool or MUST is used in several clinical settings to assess the general levels of nutrition and the nutritional status along with other measures discussed, such as blood samples, BMI and general health.
In this context, maintenance of an optimum level of nutrition is important in health care and equally important is the food plan drawn up at hospitals that provide meals to inpatients.
The Department of Health launched its Better Hospital Food programme in May 2001. It aims are to:
produce a comprehensive range of recipes that every NHS hospital can use;
redesign hospital menus to make them more accessible and easier to understand;
introduce 24-hour catering to ensure food is available at all times;
ensure hot food is available at midday and in the evening. (DoH, 2001)
The nutritional requirements of hospital food are considered of primary significance as the Department of Health states that patients who receive good nutrition through good food may have shorter hospital stays, fewer post-operative complications and have less need for drugs and other interventions. Studies have indicated that 40 percent of hospital patients are malnourished when they are admitted to the hospitals and this is also indicated from our general survey that shows men and women tend to have lesser health foods or fruit and vegetable than recommended. This is a major challenge to healthcare staff as all patients’ nourishment levels have to be optimum for recovery and general good health to overcome any disease condition. Several policies are under way to help meet the special nutritional needs of hospital inpatients.
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