THE INTAKE OF NUTRIENTS BY HOSPITALIZED PENSIONERS WITH CHRONIC WOUNDS

Three issues concerning nutrition in hospital are frequently highlight ed in nursing literature: the risk of elderly patients becoming malnou rished, the lack of adequate nutritional care provided by nurses and t he importance of certain nutrients in the process of: wound healing. T his detailed study of seven subjects on care of the elderly wards exam ined their intake of: certain important nutrients. The findings are di scussed in relation to the Department of Health's Estimated Average Re quirements (1991) and the achievement of an optimum wound healing envi ronment. The results add further to the evidence that many patients do not consume sufficient levels of nutrients and in some cases did not even receive adequate quantities of these nutrients on their plates. N urses' nutritional care was limited in most cases and no subjects rece ived an optimum nutritional environment for wound healing.