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A tailored automated nutrition screening tool for rapid identification of risk in acute-care hospital settings

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 71, pages 284–286 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Malnourishment is prevalent in hospitalized patients and associated with adverse medical outcomes. Thus, nutrition screening to identify high-risk patients is widespread. However, no single universal tool has been shown to be suitable for all hospital departments. To address this challenge, a novel, tailored, electronic tool for nutritional screening was developed and evaluated. The Rambam Automated Nutrition Computerized Screening tool efficiently screens all newly admitted patients and does not rely on self-reported height and weight estimates. Validation was carried out in medical wards (n=94), and compared to the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool, length of stay and an independent assessment by a professional dietician. Results from this research support the use of automated, flexible tools that instantaneously incorporate relevant available data from the electronic health record. Tools that are adaptable to meet the needs of individual hospital departments, can save valuable time and ensure full screening of all admitted patients.

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Acknowledgements

Dr E. Mahamid for performing as chief investigator for Helsinki committee approval, and I. Elad for proof reading.

This publication is dedicated to a beloved and outstanding colleague and friend Simona Hershkovic, for her instrumental role in developing, implementing and evaluating the RANCS tool.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Nutrition, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel

    S Hershkovich, C S Levi, D Weiner & G S Rozen

  2. School of Nutritional Sciences, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel

    A H Stark

  3. Department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Laboratory of Chemistry of Foods and Bioactives, Technion – Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    C S Levi

  4. Information Technology Unit, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, Israel

    O Gur

Authors
  1. S Hershkovich
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  2. A H Stark
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  3. C S Levi
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  4. D Weiner
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  5. O Gur
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  6. G S Rozen
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Correspondence to G S Rozen.

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Hershkovich, S., Stark, A., Levi, C. et al. A tailored automated nutrition screening tool for rapid identification of risk in acute-care hospital settings. Eur J Clin Nutr 71, 284–286 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2016.150

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2016.150

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