Page 63 - Petelin, Ana. 2021. Ed. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
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https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-129-2.61-70

Nutrition support teams in social care
institutions

Kemal Ejub, Alen Mahmutović, Valentina Syla, Andrej Starc

University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Health Science, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ejub.kemal@gmail.com, alenmahmutovic88@gmail.com, tina.syla@gmail.com, andrej.starc34@gmail.com
Abstract
Introduction: The number of elderly people in Western countries has
been increasing over the past years. The proper nutrition status among
the elderly is very important because malnourished elderly people have
five times higher mortality on admission compared to well nourished.
Nutritional malnourishment in social care institutions is present in a
range of 35-85%. Detecting malnutrition is key to establishing systemic
nutritional screening. Adequate nutritional support, which can be
provided by various experts (dietitian, nurse, doctor), is of greatest
importance when dealing with malnourished people. Unfortunately,
the presence of a nutrition team in social care institutions is a rarity
rather than a normal practice. Methods: A systematic review of
scientific literature was conducted using PubMed, Cochrane Library,
ScienceDirect and Google Scholar databases. The keywords used
were: nutrition support teams, nursing care, nutritional care, mobile
nutrition support team, mobile health clinics. The literature that was
included had to be written in English language, published between
1995 and 2020 and needed to provide free and full access to the text.
A methodological ‘PRISMA approach’ was used to review and select
the proper articles. Results: In the literature review, our search resulted
in 1354 articles. After taking into account all inclusion and exclusion
criteria only 17 studies were included. When reviewing the literature,
we found out that the presence of malnutrition among patients in social
care institutions ranged between 35-38%. Identifying and preventing
malnutrition in social care institutions can involve different approaches
(individual, multidisciplinary and with the help of a mobile nutrition
team). Discussion and conclusion: Nutritional treatment in social
care institutions can be carried out with the help of an individual,
multidisciplinary or mobile nutrition team. Regardless of the approach
chosen in the patient‘s nutritional treatment, teamwork (physician,
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