Nutrition assessment in older adults Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Nutrition esteemment in older adults - Essay Examples delimit as faulty or inadequate nutritional status undernouishment characterized by insufficient dietary white plague poor appetite, muscle wasting and weight loss (Chen et al, 2001 131).Malnutrition in the elderly can lead to disability, utilitarian dependency, higher morbidity, mortality, immune dysfunction, greater demand for health care resources and reduced quality of life. Among hospitalized older adults there is also delayed recovery and increased complications (McCall & Cotton, 2001 137). According to The National Service Framework for Older citizenry in England and Wales, nutrition risk screening or judicial decision tools help to identify those with nutritional concerns, in order to develop appropriate nutrition care plans (DoH, 2001 54). Without adequate interventions, malnutrition can cause a truehearted decline in the well-being, quality of life and life-expectancy of elderly individuals.The Research Statement This paper proposes to study the unavoidableness for nutritional assessment among older adults, compare and contrast two nutritional assessment strategies Malnutrition Universal back Tool (MUST) and Mini Nutrition Assessment (MNA) and evaluate how a nurse may utilise these tools to assess elderly patients.The lack of statelyised and consistent nutritional assessment for older adults, along with the need to cleanse nursing knowledge has been recognized by the Senior Nurse and Midwifery Advisory Council (SNMAC 2001) in its audit of standards for older people (Bailey, 2006 20). The author found from research that few nursing staff had received formal training in the specific nutritional needs of older people, and there was a lack of assessment and planned care. The need for systematic screening is emphasized because of compelling evidence that malnourishment is neither richly recognized nor treated in hospitals. Treating malnutrition can improve outcomes for hospitalized and unw ell elderly individuals.Malnutrition and its debilitating outcomes