Knowledge about the assessment and management of undernutrition: a pilot questionnaire in a UK teaching hospital

Background & aims: The detection, prevention and treatment of undernutritio n in hospitals is often poor. This study assesses the knowledge about under nutrition of staff in a UK teaching hospital. Methods: Twenty nine doctors, 65 final year medical students, 45 nurses, 11 dietitians, and 11 pharmacists anonymously completed a questionnaire of 20 multiple choice questions. One of five possible answers was considered cor rect. Twelve questions were about adult nutritional assessment and requirem ents, five about oral/enteral nutrition and three about parenteral nutritio n. Results: Dietitians scored significantly more (median 16) than the other gr oups (doctors: seven, medical students: eight, nurses: seven and pharmacist s: nine) (P< 0.0001). Medical students scored more than doctors (P< 0.001). Examples of areas in which knowledge could be improved are: 67% respondents thought the prevalence of hospital undernutrition to be less than 30%. Whi le 91% of respondents correctly chose a well 70 kg man to need about 2000 k cal/day, only 23% knew that approximately the same amount was needed for a febrile post-operative patient. Sixteen percent knew antibiotic treatment t o be the most common reason for enteral feeding-related diarrhoea. Conclusions: Knowledge about the assessment and management of undernutritio n among doctors, medical students, nurses and pharmacists was poor. This qu estionnaire provides a framework for teaching and auditing the effectivenes s of an educational program.