Screening Tool Identifies Risk of Malnutrition in Admitted Patients

The Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), widely used in Australian hospitals, has been validated for routine screening and rescreening across different healthcare settings to identify patients at risk of malnutrition, according to a study published in the June 2012 Journal of Gerontological Nursing. Identifying patients at risk for malnutrition can help avoid hospital readmission. The MST tool consists of two components: (1) unintentional weight loss in the past six months and (2) eating poorly because of a decreased appetite. Scoring between zero and five identifies whether participants are at risk of malnutrition (score of two or greater) or not at risk of malnutrition (score of zero or one).