[Screening of community malnutrition by homecare staff in Neuchâtel--Switzerland]

Malnutrition is unidentified in about 60% of malnourished people until their hospital admission. The screening of malnutrition and the institution of a nutritional therapy at home may decrease the mortality and the arise of in-hospital complications. In collaboration with NOMAD (General homecare organ in Neuchâtel - Switzerland), a pilot study was performed in order to evaluate the incidence of the community malnutrition. 129 homecare customers of NOMAD, mostly >70 years old, were screened by a trained staff using a score tool (SRNS) based on 5 simple criteria 39,5% of them were malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. The relevance of SRNS assessments was confirmed by a nutritional dietician in 81,85% of cases, corresponding to 28% of the whole cohort. This incidence is comparable to other studies.