Hospital‐acquired malnutrition: point prevalence, risk identifiers and utility of a digital Dashboard to identify high‐risk, long‐stay patients in five Australian facilities

Background There are limited hospital‐acquired malnutrition (HAM) studies among the plethora of malnutrition literature, and a few studies utilise electronic medical records to assist with malnutrition care. This study therefore aimed to determine the point prevalence of HAM in long‐stay adult patients across five facilities, whether any descriptors could assist in identifying these patients and whether a digital Dashboard accurately reflected ‘real‐time’ patient nutritional status. Methods HAM was defined as malnutrition first diagnosed >14 days after hospital admission. Eligible patients were consenting adult (≥18 years) inpatients with a length of stay (LOS) >14 days. Palliative, mental health and intensive care patients were excluded. Descriptive, clinical and nutritional data were collected, including nutritional status, and whether a patient had hospital‐acquired malnutrition to determine point prevalence. Descriptive Fisher's exact and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were used. Results Eligible patients ( n = 134) were aged 68 ± 16 years, 52% were female and 92% were acute admissions. HAM and malnutrition point prevalence were 4.5% ( n = 6/134) and 19% ( n = 26/134), respectively. Patients with HAM had 72 days greater LOS than those with malnutrition present on admission ( p < 0.001). A high proportion of HAM patients were inpatients at a tertiary facility and longer‐stay wards. The Dashboard correctly reflected recent ward dietitian assessments in 94% of patients at one facility ( n = 29/31). Conclusions HAM point prevalence was 4.5% among adult long‐stay patients. Several descriptors may be suitable to screen for at‐risk patients in future studies. Digital Dashboards have the potential to explore factors related to HAM.