Sjuksköterskors kunskap om och attityder till undernärng
MalnutritionSelf-reported knowledgeNursesNutritionUndernäringSjälvskattad kunskapSjuksköterskorNutrition
ABSTRACTBackground and aims: Nutrition is a part of the medical treatment, and also a part of the nursingcare. In spite of this, malnutrition is a common problem in the health care sector. Studies show thatnurses have too little knowledge about nutrition and malnutrition and that nutrition has low priorityin the daily work. The aim with this study was to find out the nurses self-reported knowledge aboutand their attitudes towards malnutrition, nutrition screening, prevention and treatment of patientswith malnutrition.Methods: A questionnaire was handed out to 65 nurses in two different care units and 36questionnaires were answered.Results: The respondents from the two care units self-reported their knowledge about nutrition andmalnutrition low. Most of the respondents stated to have a big need of education about nutritionscreening and more than half of the respondents stated that they have a need of education forprevention and treatment of malnutrition. None of the respondents stated that there were goodroutines to discover and treat malnutrition in their care units. Less than half of the respondentsstated that the patient´s nutrition had high priority to them.Conclusion: The self-reported knowledge about nutrition and malnutrition, nutrition screening,prevention and treatment of patients with malnutrition is low among nurses. There is a big need ofeducation about nutrition screening, prevention and treatment of malnutrition. Good and transparentroutines and policies for nutrition screening and treatment of malnutrition are missing. Patient´snutrition has low priority.To educate nurses within nutrition screening, prevention and treatment ofmalnutrition and to implement clear and simple-to-use nutrition screening instruments seems to bevery important for improvement of patient´s nutritional care.