Development of a Nutrition Screening Tool for an Outpatient Wound Center.

Development of a Nutrition Screening Tool for an Outpatient Wound Center.

Fulton Judith; Evans Brad; Miller Stephannie; Blasiole Kimberly N; Leone Raymond; Beinlich Nancy; Meehan Anita; Loose Claire

Advances in Skin & Wound Care

2016

2016-03

OBJECTIVE: To construct a quickly and easily administered nutrition screening tool using variables believed to be predictive of malnutrition risk in the wound patient population. DESIGN: A prospective pilot study assessed patients on a list of suspected variables, as well as the Scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA), chosen as the criterion standard. Variables were analyzed to select the most appropriate items for inclusion on a new nutrition screening tool using preliminary bivariate correlations and chi tests of association. Items significantly associated with malnutrition were dichotomized, and binary logistic regression analyses were performed to arrive at a final model. A sum score was computed, and receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to determine designation of risk. SETTING: An outpatient wound center in Northeast Ohio. PARTICIPANTS: The pilot study included a convenience sample of 105 outpatients with at least 1 active wound. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Malnutrition as assessed by the Scored PG-SGA. MAIN RESULTS: The final nutrition screening tool, the MEAL Scale, is composed of 4 dichotomous elements: multiple wounds (number of wounds), eats less than 3 meals per day, appetite decrease (eats less than usual), and level of activity. These variables predicted 83.7% of the malnutrition cases assessed by the Scored PG-SGA. The receiver operating characteristic analysis showed an acceptable area under the curve (0.8581), and a cutoff score of 2 or greater was selected to indicate risk (median sensitivity = 91.4%, median specificity = 60.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Although further studies of validity and reliability are necessary to establish the tool before widespread use, the MEAL Scale is a needed step toward nutrition screening in a wound patient population.

*Nutrition Assessment; Adult; Ambulatory Care Facilities; Ambulatory Care/*methods; Bivariate Statistics; Convenience Sample; Descriptive Statistics; Human; Humans; Logistic Regression; Malnutrition – Risk Factors; Malnutrition/*diagnosis/etiology; Mass Screening/*methods; Nutrition; Nutritional Status; Ohio; Outcome Assessment (Health Care); Outpatients/*statistics & numerical data; Pilot Projects; Pilot Studies; Prospective Studies; Reliability and Validity; Wound Care; Wounds and Injuries/complications

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