Nutritional screening: a user-friendly tool adapted from Sweden

Abstract

Screening for undernutrition is highly important and may reduce morbidity and mortality. The Minimal Eating Observation and Nutrition Form -Version II (MEONF-II) is a nutritional screening tool specifically developed for use by nurses. Here, we describe the translation, performance and appropriateness of the MEONF-II for the UK.Following translation from Swedish to British English, the user-friendliness and appropriateness of the British MEONF-II was tested by 29 registered nurses and final year student nurses on 266 hospital inpatients. The new British MEONF-II was perceived as highly user-friendly and appropriate. They found the MEONF-II to compare favourably to other similar tools in terms of preference, usefulness and helpfulness in providing good nutritional care. Dependency in activities and poorer subjective health were associated with a higher undernutrition risk. These findings support the appropriateness of the British MEONF-II version and suggest it may act as a userfriendly facilitator towards good nutritional nursing care. Keywords: MEONF-II, nutrition, screening, translation, undernutrition 3Key phrases 1. Screening for undernutrition is primarily a nursing responsibility that can improve nutritional status and medical recovery, and reduce morbidity and mortality. 2.The MEONF-II is a nutrition screening tool developed in Sweden for nursing use among adult hospital inpatients.3. The MEONF-II was adapted for use in the UK, and considered user-friendly and appropriate by British qualified and student nurses. 4.The MEONF -II compared favourably with other tools (e.g., the MUST) regarding usefulness towards providing good nutritional nursing care. 5.Further studies in larger British hospital patient cohorts are needed to more firmly test the usefulness and validity of the British MEONF-II.4

Nursing care for stroke patients: A survey of current practice in 11 European countries

“…The EANN emphasises the importance of evidence‐based knowledge in neuroscience nursing including stroke care and the need to educate clinical nurse specialists regularly in this field. This has also been reported from studies confirming the importance of nurses in stroke care to assess the patients’ swallowing function (Westergren, ), nutritional screening (Smith, Westergren, Saunders, & Hagell, ), to measure the postvoid residual urine volume (Gilbert, ) and to follow the weight to detect malnutrition (Jönsson, Lindgren, Norrving, & Lindgren, ). The role of the nurse is also important in the follow‐up of recovery (Jönsson, Höglund, Brizzi, & Pessah‐Rasmussen, ), risk factors and medication compliance (Irewall et al., ) and to facilitate transition from hospital to community care (Condon, Lycan, Duncan, & Bushnell, ).…”

Multidisciplinary Provision of Food and Nutritional Care to Hospitalized Adult In-Patients: A Scoping Review

“… 29 , 30 Excluded articles either did not focus on multidisciplinary collaborations in hospitals 31 or as a nutritional care component or only examined the functionality and usage of a nutritional care tool by staff. 32 A flow chart showing the number of studies at each stage is detailed in Figure 1 .

Figure 1 PRISMA diagram.

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Short‐term effects of a computer‐based nutritional nursing training program for inpatient hospital care

“…These three criteria are recommended on a national basis by The National Board of Health and Welfare , The Swedish Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism , and by Swedish Municipalities and County Councils . These three criteria have been operationalized in the Minimal Eating Observation and Nutrition Form (MEONF‐II) UN screening tool .…”

“…It is therefore a strength that both unintentional weight loss and BMI are included in the MEONF‐II. The MEONF‐II has been used internationally in, for instance, Turkey , UK , Iceland and has been included in a systematic review .…”