TITLE:
Nutrition Screening and Referrals in Two Rural Australian Oncology Clinics
AUTHORS:
Emma Bohringer, Leanne Brown
KEYWORDS:
Malnutrition, Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), Nutrition Screening, Oncology, Rural
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.7 No.12,
October
17,
2016
ABSTRACT: Malnutrition is common, and is a significant contributing factor to morbidity and
mortality in the oncology setting. Previous research suggests that dietetic services in
rural oncology clinics need to be well organized, timely and flexible with routine
screening processes. In the absence of routine nutrition screening, it is hypothesized
that oncology patients are only referred to dietetic services when malnutrition is
overt or advanced. The aim of this study was to describe and compare dietetic services
in two rural Australian oncology clinics and investigate nutrition screening and
referral practices to determine if oncology patients at nutritional risk were appropriately
referred. A retrospective file audit of medical and treatment records was conducted
for a sample of oncology patients to determine the proportion of patients at
risk of malnutrition by using the Malnutrition Screening Tool retrospectively. Dietetic
treatment statistics and key stakeholders were consulted to compare dietetic
service provision across the two sites. Seventy-eight percent of patients (n = 129)
were retrospectively determined to be at nutritional risk during the study period,
however, only 66% of these patients were referred to a dietitian. Dietetic treatment
statistics varied across the two sites ranging from 26 to 62 treated patients, an average
of 2.4 to 4.5 dietetic interventions per patient and an average difference in patient
intervention time of 62 minutes during the 12-month study period. This study confirmed
findings from previous research, highlighting that without routine nutrition
screening in oncology, at least one third of patients at nutritional risk were failing to
be identified and referred to dietetic services for appropriate treatment. Routine nutrition
screening should be implemented to standardise and prioritise dietetic service
provision, and oncology specific funding should be allocated to the dietetic service to
ensure that staffing is adequate to provide a timely service.