Malnutrition Week runs from Monday 4 October to Friday 8 October. It spotlights the shared responsibility of healthcare workers, families, and patients to identify, treat and prevent malnutrition.
Our responsibility to reduce malnutrition rates in hospitals is outlined under the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards, Standard 5: Comprehensive Care. Monash Health’s Malnutrition Clinical Guideline details the multidisciplinary approach to managing malnutrition in our patients. You can access the guideline on PROMPT.
In March 2021, a Malnutrition Working Party was established at Monash Health, with the aim of raising awareness of the clinical guideline and increasing understanding of processes relating to malnutrition.
For Malnutrition Week, the Working Party is rolling out a series of posters, which can be displayed on education boards.
- What is malnutrition?
- How do we screen
- How do we diagnose
- How do we escalate nutrition care
- How do we treat
- Who prevents malnutrition
- Why is it important?
Tips for patients will be provided on meal trays at lunchtime on Wednesday 6 October, to empower patients to take control of their nutrition. Look out for the “Not feeling hungry?” flyer.
You can get involved in Malnutrition Week by taking the malnutrition quiz!
Malnutrition is more than a guideline, a screening tool, a prolonged length of stay and a cost to the healthcare system. Malnutrition impacts people and their everyday living.
Hear about Mathew, a Monash Health patient with malnutrition.
Matthew was diagnosed with a rare medical condition in 2003, after a motorcycle accident left him with five fractured vertebra that were slow to heal. Over the next 10 years, Matthew’s health slowly deteriorated due to severe pain and reduced mobility.
Living on his own, meals were for one. Matthew wanted something that was quick and easy, usually two-minute noodles or takeaway. Over time, food and eating were not for enjoyment but out of necessity. Matthew ate once a day.
“I thought it was enough to get me through”, says Matthew.
Over the last year, before coming into our care, Matthew’s condition left him so functionally impaired he was unable to access adequate fresh food, cook nutritious meals or even get out of bed due to debilitating pain. This all led to a diagnosis of severe malnutrition.
He also developed an infection in his teeth, which caused pain and left him unable to chew normal foods. Matthew lost 50% of his body weight over the year, despite trying to eat enough and drink nutritional supplements.
During his time in our care, Matthew has gained 10kg! He has improved his body mass index and is now in a healthy weight range.
“My improvement is due to the nutritional team, who have given me the right information and strategies to look at food differently.”
Matthew’s main goal now is to maintain his weight by getting help with food preparation and aiming to make three healthy meals a day.
“If you lose muscle, it makes it harder to move around, and you don’t feel good,” says Matthew.
The team caring for Matthew is looking into how they can arrange ongoing help with food preparation and improving his access to food through a funded mobility aid. This would provide a dietitian to teach Matthew how to follow high energy and high protein meal plan, and include the prescription of nutritious supplements. This will help avoid hospitalisation and prevent malnutrition in the future.
Matthew is excited and encouraged by the changes during his time in our care and says the team have been so positive.
If you would like to learn more about how we manage malnutrition at Monash Health, you can contact Sheree Phillips, Manager, Nutrition and Dietetics.
Approved by Deb Mitchell, Chief Allied Health Officer