Mapping nursing roles in nutritional care within Saudi tertiary hospitals: A scoping review

Nutritional care is a crucial aspect of patient well-being, and nurses lie at the heart of its implementation in hospital settings. However, their role as yet remains limited and under-recognized, especially in Saudi tertiary hospitals. This scoping review aims to map the existing literature on the nursing role in nutritional care in Saudi tertiary settings, with findings organized by study design and key themes, and identifying gaps to inform practice, policy, and education.

A scoping review design was used to conduct this study. The review followed the PRISMA-ScR guidelines within the Arksey & O'Malley framework. Five stages were employed: searching for relevant studies across several databases, screening, charting the data, and thematically synthesizing the findings.

Of the 713 records initially identified through database searches spanning 2014 to 2025, 133 duplicates were removed. This left 580 unique publications for the initial screening phase, during which titles and abstracts were evaluated. Based on this assessment, 535 records were excluded. The full text of the remaining 45 articles was then evaluated for eligibility. Finally, twelve articles were incorporated into the final review, each meeting the inclusion criteria.

The review established that within the context of interdisciplinary collaboration, certain responsibilities of nurses in nutritional care are not clearly outlined.