Nutrition Screening vs Nutrition Assessment: How Do They Differ?

Abstract

Interest in nutrition screening has increased rapidly due to regulatory requirements as well as the known adverse impact of nutrition deficits on outcomes of hospitalization. Screening programs now in use in acute care are often complex and difficult to administer. Current interest in evaluation of all aspects of healthcare using evidence-based methods requires that nutrition screening programs be thoroughly evaluated. Clinicians attempting to evaluate evidence in support of different methods to identify patients who might have nutrition problems are often confronted with research that blurs the distinction between screening and assessment. Therefore, before identifying methods to conduct nutrition screening, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the difference between screening and assessment. A review of terms, definitions, and programs for screening in other areas of healthcare will provide some guidance to the clinician faced with development, implementation, and monitoring of nutrition screening programs. This facilitates development of nutrition assessment programs so that patients who have a nutrition screen are assessed in a timely fashion and receive appropriate nutrition interventions.

Nurses' Perceptions Regarding the Prevalence, Detection, and Causes of Malnutrition in Canadian Hospitals

“…Rather, a more relevant role for nurses would be the identification of patients at nutrition risk. Nutrition risk screening involves asking validated, simple questions to determine whether a more detailed nutrition assessment is needed 17 . Screening tests are typically designed to be more sensitive than specific, and a negative screen means that nutrition compromise is unlikely and further detailed nutrition assessment unnecessary.…”

Valoración nutricional en pacientes hospitalizados en hospitales latinoamericanos: asociación con factores pronóstico. El estudio ENHOLA

“…Charney (25) emphasizes the lack of agreement on the definition of nutritional screening between international nutrition societies such as the ADA (American Diabetes Association), ASPEN (American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition) and ESPEN. For this reason there is no standard reference tool for nutritional screening and/or assessment (15,23,26,27) and given the heterogeneity of the population and that hospital malnutrition is a dynamic continuum (25,28), a standard reference tool was not put into place in this study.…”

“…For this reason there is no standard reference tool for nutritional screening and/or assessment (15,23,26,27) and given the heterogeneity of the population and that hospital malnutrition is a dynamic continuum (25,28), a standard reference tool was not put into place in this study. Another finding from the study is that nutritional screening or assessment should be part of the …”

Comparison of the Prevalence of Malnutrition Diagnosis in Head and Neck, Gastrointestinal, and Lung Cancer Patients by 3 Classification Methods

“…Additionally, one of the criteria for dietitians to consider in assessing nutritional status is BMI and this may have confounded results; however we are not sure to what extent BMI was considered as a factor in assessing nutritional status by the dietitian as each determination was based on subjective clinical judgment. In institutional settings, RDs typically assess nutritional status using several indicators including serum albumin and BMI 29, 32, 33…”