A Simple Nutrition Screening Tool for Hemodialysis Nurses
Objective
To assess the reliability of a nurse-performed nutrition screening tool (NST) for hemodialysis (HD) patients to identify nutritionally at-risk patients.
Design
Tool reliability assessment.
Setting and Participants
The setting was nine non-hospital private (n = 3) and public (n = 6) HD units in Australia (two rural and seven metropolitan). Participants were 112 HD patients.
Results
A total of 112 HD patients (male = 65, female = 47) from 9 non-hospital HD units in Australia (seven metropolitan and two rural) were screened with the NST and the outcome of dietitian referral compared with Standard Dietitians Assessment. The mean age of patients was 57.6 years. Overall, the NST showed a sensitivity of 0.84 (range, 0.71 to 0.94; P < .05) and a specificity of 0.9 (range, 0.82 to 0.98; P < .05). The NST was more sensitive (sensitivity, 0.93 [range, 0.87 to 0.99; P < .05]) and was more specific for men (specificity, 0.92 [range, 0.85 to 0.99; P < .05]). Specificity was very strong in metropolitan patients (specificity, 0.94 [range, 0.87 to 1.01; P < .05]).
Conclusions
The tool was more sensitive and specific than the NST previously reported by the same investigators. The tool is particularly specific in that it screens those patients not requiring dietitian intervention. The use of this tool may benefit HD units that do not have on-site or regular dietetic support to prioritize patients needing dietitian intervention.
⁎Registered Nurse, Master Health Service Management, and Lecturer in Nursing, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia
†Nurse Unit Manager of Hampstead Dialysis Centre, Adelaide, South Australia
§Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Senior Renal Dietitian at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woodville, South Australia
‡Clinical Nurse Manager, Wayville Dialysis Centre, Wayville, South Australia
Address reprint requests to Paul N. Bennett, Faculty of Health Sciences Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001
ABSTRACT