We encourage you to use the Patients Association nutrition checklist and functional measures to start the conversation about patient nutritional needs.
Using the Patients Association nutrition checklist
This checklist is divided in two sections. Section A is validated and should be used by a health professionals and section B can be self-applied. See the Malnutrition Task Force website for healthcare professionals and the Patient's Association website information about this tool’s update.
We encourage you to use the Patients Association nutrition checklist and functional measures (see list below) to start the conversation about patient nutritional needs. The use of functional measures listed below can avoid reliance on body weight as the sole criterion for instigating or changing, nutritional therapies. Body weight is not always the best measure to use and if infection control measures are in place it may not be possible to use it.
Potential outcome measures (NICE, 2020):
- Functional such as the sit to stand test (e.g. patient feeling stronger)
- Self-reported activity of daily living (e.g. resume normal hobbies, improve stamina)
- Patient’s report of progress towards agreed goals (e.g. achieve functional independence)
- Compliance with dietary advice (e.g. achieve desirable body weight, or eating recommended foods, meals, snacks etc)
- Body weight through subjective observations (e.g. visible gain of muscle or fat mass, fit of clothes, belts, watches etc)
- Hand grip strength (muscle strength, but a dynamometer is needed)
If it is possible to weigh patients, screen for malnutrition risk using the ‘MUST’ to monitor patients (Lawrence et al., 2021).
Access a library available for NHS staff to perform some of these tests (NHS Digital).