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Do doctors know how much nutrition patients need—a survey from Germany?

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 68, pages 840–843 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

For the diagnosis, prevention and therapy of malnutrition, it is important to estimate the energy and fluid requirements of an individual patient. To our knowledge, it is unknown how accurately medical doctors can estimate the energy and fluid requirements of patients in a clinical routine situation. Hence, we conducted the following survey. A written face-to-face survey about the energy and fluid requirements of and tube feeding and fluid recommendations for a typical patient was performed with 179 medical doctors. An estimation error of >15% was defined as relevant. The results revealed substantial variations in estimating the energy and fluid needs of the patient. A total of 25% of the participants underestimated the energy requirements, and 47% of the participants underestimated the fluid requirements. In addition, 68% of the participants recommended a daily dose of tube feeding that was <85% of the reference value. A substantial proportion of medical doctors show a lack of knowledge concerning energy and fluid requirements, which demonstrates a need for better medical education with regard to nutrition.

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Acknowledgements

This work had no financial support. The authors express their gratitude to all members of the nutrition working group of the German Geriatric Society (DGG) for their assistance in designing the study.

Author Contributions

RW, C Smoliner, C Spamer, CM, FSS, HPW, RL, RS and DV designed the study. RW, C Spamer, CM, FSS, HPW, RL, and RS performed the survey. RW, C Smoliner and DV conducted the statistical analysis and drafted the manuscript. All of the authors have made substantial contributions and read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, St Marien-Hospital Borken, Borken, Germany

    R Wirth & C Smoliner

  2. Institute for Biomedicine of Aging, University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany

    R Wirth, C Smoliner & D Volkert

  3. Department of Geriatrics, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Alsterdorf, Hamburg, Germany

    C Spamer

  4. Department of Geriatrics, Christophsbad Göppingen, Göppingen, Germany

    C Marburger

  5. Department of Geriatrics and Internal Medicine, Hermann Josef Krankenhaus, Erkelenz, Germany

    F S Schreiber

  6. Department of Geriatrics, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Essen, Germany

    H P Willschrei

  7. Department of Nephrology, Ernst-von-Bergmann-Klinikum Potsdam, Endocrinology and Geriatrics, Potsdam, Germany

    R Lenzen-Großimlinghaus

  8. Department of Geriatrics, Marien-Krankenhaus Bergisch-Gladbach, Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany

    R Schäfer

Authors
  1. R Wirth
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  2. C Smoliner
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  3. C Spamer
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  4. C Marburger
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  5. F S Schreiber
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  6. H P Willschrei
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  7. R Lenzen-Großimlinghaus
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  8. R Schäfer
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  9. D Volkert
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to R Wirth.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Wirth, R., Smoliner, C., Spamer, C. et al. Do doctors know how much nutrition patients need—a survey from Germany?. Eur J Clin Nutr 68, 840–843 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.94

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.94

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