Nutritional screening: a community dietitian's perspective.

Malnutrition in the UK is well documented and highlighted by the British Association of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, who advocate the use of a screening tool to facilitate the identification and subsequent management of undernutrition. Nurses are ideally placed to support this process, but their role has many conflicting priorities. For nurses working in the community, there also exists the problem of identifying those who are at risk of undernutrition but remain unknown to nursing services. This article provides a review of malnutrition and nutrition screening and aims to promote a pragmatic approach to the identification and management of undernutrition in the community. The article concludes with a brief review of current opportunities for improving nutritional care in the community.