Malnutrition occurs when a person\u2019s diet does not contain the right balance of nutrients. A deficiency in nutrients may have detrimental effects on health, putting a patient at higher risk of developing disease; or delaying recovery from disease. The term malnutrition is generally used to refer to under-nourishment. It is also possible to eat a diet high in calories but containing few vitamins and minerals, causing malnutrition, even though a person might be overweight or obese. Making an assessment of a patient’s state of nutrition is essential to identify those in need of further investigation and subsequent nutritional support. This includes an evaluation of their diet; their general physical condition; and measurement of height, weight and body mass index. The Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool or M.U.S.T, is a commonly used, and validated screening tool. It is used in the assessment of adults in hospitals and community care settings, to detect malnutrition, those at risk of malnutrition, or those that are obese. It also includes management guidelines, which can be used to develop a nutritional care plan. It is important to note that in some situations where a patient’s height or weight measurements may be altered; such as patients with fluid disturbances, during pregnancy, in patients with amputations, or plaster casts; the M.U.S.T. tool may need to be adapted.<\/p>\r\n
Once you have watched this video, why not attempt the multiple choice quiz to test your knowledge?<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Malnutrition occurs when a person\u2019s diet does not contain the right balance of nutrients. A deficiency in nutrients may have detrimental effects on health, putting a patient at higher risk of developing disease; or delaying recovery from disease. The term malnutrition is generally used to refer to under-nourishment. It is also possible to eat a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tomorrows-clinicians","category-uncategorized","entry"],"youtubeVideo":"508755914\/56fc431c6a","question1":"Which of the following is not used when screening for malnutrition?","answers1":"Diet| Physical condition| Height, weight, body mass index (BMI)| Age \r\n","correctAnswer1":"3","correctAnswerText1":"","question2":"\u201cMUST\u201d is an acronym for:","answers2":"Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool| Malnutrition Uniform Scoring Tool| Medical Undernutrition Scoring Tool| Medical Universal Screening Tool\r\n","correctAnswer2":"0","correctAnswerText2":"","question3":"The MUST tool may need to be adapted in which of the following situations?","answers3":"A patient with an early presentation of bowel cancer| A patient admitted with an exacerbation of severe congestive cardiac failure| A patient who is obese| A patient with Coeliac disease who is on an established diet","correctAnswerText3":"A patient with severe congestive cardiac failure is likely to have weight alteration due to fluid disturbances - one of several factors mentioned that may require the tool to be adapted. Others include: pregnancy, amputations and plaster casts.","correctAnswer3":"1","question4":"Step 1 of the MUST score looks at:","answers4":"Physical examination findings| Patient age| BMI| Dietary intake\r\n","correctAnswer4":"2","correctAnswerText4":"","question5":"If it is not possible to measure the patient\u2019s height, it can be estimated by:","answers5":"Measuring ulna length| Measuring radial length| Measuring upper limb length| Measuring arm span \r\n","correctAnswer5":"0","correctAnswerText5":"","question6":"When measuring ulna length, the anatomical landmarks used are:","answers6":"The ulna styloid process and the olecranon process| The ulna styloid process and the antecubital fossa| The ulna styloid process and the lateral end of the clavicle| The ulna styloid process and the tendon of the biceps brachii","correctAnswer6":"0","correctAnswerText6":"","question7":"After obtaining a measurement, ulna length requires what two additional pieces of data?","answers7":"Age and BMI | Sex and BMI | Age and weight | Age and sex","correctAnswer7":"3","correctAnswerText7":"","question8":"BMI is calculated using:","answers8":"Sex and height| Age and height| Weight and height| Age and weight \r\n","correctAnswer8":"2","correctAnswerText8":"","question9":"Alternatively, BMI can be calculated using what equation?","answers9":"BMI = height (m) \/ weight2 (kg)| BMI = weight (kg) \/ height2 (m)| BMI = weight (kg) x height2 (m)| BMI = weight (kg) \/ height (m)","correctAnswer9":"1","correctAnswerText9":"","question10":"A BMI of <18.5 on step 1 of the MUST will score a value of:","answers10":"0| 1| 2| 3","correctAnswer10":"2","correctAnswerText10":"A BMI of <18.5 means that poor protein energy status is probable.","question11":"Step 2 of the MUST score assesses:","answers11":"Recent weight loss| Recent weight gain| Recent dietary change| Recent illness","correctAnswer11":"0","correctAnswerText11":"","question12":"A patient scores 1 on step 2 of the MUST. What does this mean?","answers12":"That the patient has lost <5% of their total weight| That the patient has lost 5-10% of their total weight| That the patient has lost >10% of their total weight| That the patient has not lost or gained any weight","correctAnswer12":"1","correctAnswerText12":"This is an early indicator of malnutrition\r\nScore 0 = Not lost\/gained weight\r\nScore 0 = <5% lost (green)\r\nScore 1 = 5-10% lost (yellow)\r\nScore 2 = >10% lost (red)","question13":"Step 3 of the MUST assesses:","answers13":"Dietary requirement| Dietary intake| Exercise tolerance| The effect of acute disease\r\n","correctAnswer13":"3","correctAnswerText13":"A patient is at risk of malnutrition if they are acutely unwell and there has been or is likely to be no nutritional intake for 5 days.","question14":"A patient has an overall MUST score of 2. What is their risk of malnutrition?","answers14":"No risk| Low risk| Medium risk| High risk \r\n","correctAnswer14":"3","correctAnswerText14":"A score of 2 or more on the MUST indicates that the patient is at high risk of malnutrition.","question15":"","answers15":"","correctAnswer15":"","correctAnswerText15":"","icon":"nutritional-assessment","parentId":"","recapId":"412","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":577,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions\/577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}