Rapid and reliable self-screening for nutritional risk in hospital outpatients using an electronic system

This study examined an electronic nutritional self-screening procedure for feasibility and for reliability, rapidity, and ease of use by hospital outpatients.

One hundred sixty consecutive patients (ages 18-87 y) attending a gastroenterology clinic measured their weight and height using a modified digital weight and height machine, which transmitted results to a computer. Following input of reported weight loss in the previous 3 mo to 6 mo, malnutrition risk by the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) was instantaneously calculated. The duration and ease of undertaking screening were noted. Screening also was undertaken by a health care professional.

Of the patients in the study, 21.3% were at risk for malnutrition (medium + high risk). There was perfect agreement (kappa = 1.00) between self-screening and health care professional screening, between test-retest self-screening, and between two methods of measuring height (facing toward and away from the stadiometer). A low within-patient coefficient of variation was found for measurement of weight (<0.2%), height (<0.35%) and body mass index (<0.4%), except for two measurements in which height was recorded before correct positioning of the sliding headpiece. The overall time to self-screen was 1.29 ± 0.57 min but it was 2.81 ± 0.92 min in those aged ≥ 75 y. Of the participants, 96.2% rated self-screening as very easy (71.9%) or easy (24.3%) and 3.8% (predominantly patients ages ≥ 75 y) difficult.

The study provides evidence that electronic nutritional self-screening can be rapid, easy, reliable, and feasible in a clinical setting. Equipment specifically designed for self-screening and use in other types of patients and settings could facilitate appropriate and routine implementation of self-screening.