Development and validation of a nutritional and nursing risk assessment method for diabetic patients

The present study aimed to develop and evaluate a nutritional and nursing risk assessment method for diabetic inpatients to improve healthcare and risk management. Diabetic inpatients diagnosed according to the World Health Organization guidelines, together with their nursing staff, were divided into two groups for nutritional and nursing risk assessment. Data from one group were used to establish the assessment method, and data from the other group were used to evaluate the reliability and effectiveness of the method. To establish the method, various risk variables in the nutritional and nursing processes were evaluated by logistic regression analysis; the score and probability of the risk variables were determined based on odds ratios. The overall nutritional and nursing risk for individual inpatients was then judged by the accumulated scores. The analysis showed that there were a number of risk factors, including age and body mass index. The risk was shown to increase with increasing score for the inpatients, and the χ² test (P<0.01) was used to indicate a significant association. When the score was 50, the sensitivity and specificity of the method used to detect the nutritional and nursing risk were 88.3 and 66.5%, respectively, with predictive positive and negative rates of 12.83 and 98.53%, respectively. Therefore, the method is simple, cost-effective and fast; it can be used to screen a large number of patients by nursing staff and can also be used by patients themselves. Overall, the method is an effective and practicable nutritional and nursing risk assessment and educational tool.