IMPROVED DETECTION OF MALNUTRITION BY MEDICAL HOUSESTAFF FOLLOWING FOCUSED-TEACHING INTERVENTION

We examined the influence of a brief, small group teaching interventio n, which used current patients as examples, on the detection of malnut rition by medical housestaff. We reviewed 100 consecutive patient admi ssions before and 61 admissions 1 month after the intervention for any mention of malnutrition in admitting, progress, or discharge notes an d compared the result with the number of patients diagnosed as malnour ished by dietitians. Before the intervention, interns correctly identi fied 4 (14%) of 28 malnourished patients. After the intervention, the same interns correctly identified 15 (94%) of 16 malnourished patients (p = .0004). We conclude that this brief teaching intervention was ef fective in increasing the awareness and detection of malnutrition by i nterns.