An audit of nutritional supplement distribution and consumption on a care of the elderly ward

Background: Malnutrition in hospital is often an unrecognized problem which can affect recovery from illness or injury and highlights the need for com prehensive training on clinical nutrition. One group at high risk of malnut rition are the elderly and several studies have described how dietary suppl ementation with oral sip feeds can improve the outcome in this group of pat ients. Aim: The aim of this audit was to establish how much of the prescribed volu me of oral sip feed was offered to and consumed by the patients an an acute 35-bed care of the elderly ward over a 12-day period including one weekend . Methods: A standard pro-forma was used to record what supplements had been prescribed, what had been offered to the patient and what volume had been c onsumed. Results: Not all patients received the supplements prescribed and 39% of pa tients who did receive a supplement consumed none or hardly any of it. Fort y-three per cent consumed nearly all of the supplement provided, similar to the results from other studies. Conclusions: The study highlighted the need for training of ward staff abou t the preparation and distribution of supplements.