FP Report -- September 1999
Watch for 'Nutrition Care Alerts'
Nursing homes and regional health offices will receive a written tool this fall launching a campaign to improve nutrition for the elderly.
Melvin Gerald, M.D.The "Nutrition Care Alerts" statement tackles four nutrition-related conditions: unintended weight loss, dehydration, pressure ulcers and tube-feeding complications. The Nutrition Screening Initiative, founded by groups including the AAFP, developed the alerts to help improve the health of the estimated 40 percent of nursing home residents who are malnourished. The alerts list warning signs for the four conditions and action steps for care-givers.
AAFP Director Melvin Gerald, M.D., of Washington, D.C., participated in a press conference announcing the "Nutrition Care Alerts" Aug. 5 in Washington. "This health education tool can improve the quality of care by reinforcing basic, simple components of nutrition care by nursing assistants, family members and the entire care team, including physicians," said Gerald.
The Health Care Financing Administration, Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories and health groups will distribute the alerts this fall, and the AAFP will make the tool available to members. It may be used in home care situations and physicians' offices as well as nursing homes.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1999 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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