A simple nutrition screening procedure for hospital patients.

Nutrition screening is the process of identifying hospital patients with a high risk for nutrition problems who may require comprehensive nutrition assessment. Dietitians at a 700-bed teaching hospital recently implemented a nutrition screening program remarkable for efficient use of existing personnel resources. The three-step procedure includes a nutrition questionnaire completed by the patient in the hospital admissions office, measurement of each patient's height and weight by an admissions nurse, and addition of the patient's serum albumin concentration plus summary and recommendations for nutrition intervention by a registered dietitian. The procedure reduces the time needed for individual evaluation from 25 to 5 minutes and results in 1 1/2-hour time saving per day per clinical dietitian. Patients designated as "high risk" by this method appear to be more seriously ill, as shown by significantly longer hospitalization. The nutrition screening procedure described is simple, efficient, and applicable to a wide variety of institutional settings.