Nutrition Assessment in Long-Term Care

Assessment of nutrition status is necessary in long-term care settings for both optimal patient care and to meet regulatory standards. Careful nutrition assessment leads to development of an individual plan of care to optimize nutrition status. Although the Minimum Data Set is mandated as the nutrition assessment tool in long-term care settings, published studies show that the use of the Minimum Data Set to assess nutrition status is problematic. Two types of nutrition assessment instruments have been developed. The first type aims to identify those at risk for malnutrition but is not used to diagnose clinical malnutrition, whereas the second type has been designed to diagnose malnutrition. A number of commonly used nutrition assessment tools have not been validated in long-term care populations. This review focuses on the available tools used in the long-term care setting and provides an overview of their characteristics and performance measures. (Nutr Clin Pract. 2008;23:383-387)