Standards of practice: nutritional quality assurance in acute-care hospitals.

Although the standards were written originally for use in acute-care hospitals, they are guidelines that can be tailored to any health care institution's nutritional needs. The practice standards could also be used to illustrate those areas in nutritional assessment, care, and documentation that need additional improvement. As a result of the research and development of the practice standards, more concise and informative medical record entries are possible, thereby furnishing nutritional care providers with an invaluable tool.