Changes in nutritional status over 24, 48, and 72 hours after admission to the hospital

A prospective, observational study to determine if the proportion of patients at nutrition risk changes over the first 72 hours after admission to the hospital was conducted on general medicine and general surgery patients at Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) from December 2005 to February 2006. Patients were screened for nutrition risk using the currently validated RUMC nutrition screening tool (less than 85% ideal body weight and recent unintentional weight loss) and the current tool plus enteral/parenteral use over three days (n = 100). Fourteen percent of patients were at nutrition risk; there was no statistically significant change in the proportion of subjects at nutrition risk using the two or three question screen over 24, 48, or 72 hours using McNemar test for change (p=1.00, p=.368, respectively). Due to the small sample size, the requirement (screening within the first 24 hours after admission) made by Joint Commission cannot be refuted.