NICE releases nutrition guidance
Pharmacists should be included in multidisciplinary teams providing nutrition support to patients in England and Wales, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines issued this week recommend.
NICE’s clinical guideline on nutrition
support in adults states
that all acute hospital trusts should have a multidisciplinary nutrition
support team (which may include pharmacists); that all hospital trusts
should have a nutrition steering committee (which should include senior
representation from pharmacy); and that support in the community should
be delivered by a co-ordinated multidisciplinary team including input
from pharmacy.
It also recommends that hospital patients and residents of care homes
should be screened for malnutrition or risk of malnutrition by health
care professionals with appropriate skills and training.
NICE guidance
Nutrition support should, the guideline says, be considered in
people who have:
- A body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5kg/m2
- Unintentional
weight loss of more than 10 per cent within the past six
months
- A BMI of less than 20kg/m2 and unintentional weight
loss greater than 5 per cent within the past six months
- Eaten little or nothing
for more than five days or who are likely to eat little or
nothing for the next five days
- A poor absorptive
capacity, high nutrient losses or increased nutritional needs
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Other guidance This
week NICE also published a technology appraisal of adefovir dipivoxil
and peginterferon alfa-2a
for the treatment of chronic
hepatitis B (see above), as well as
guidance on computerised
cognitive behavioural therapy and health
care services for skin cancers
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