Missed Opportunities for Nutritional Rehabilitation in Children Admitted to Surgical Wards

Background. Malnutrition in children has serious health and economic consequences. We studied documentation of malnutrition, actual prevalence, and treatment given in children admitted to surgical wards. Methods. Retrospective study of 154 patients aged <5 yrs admitted to general surgical, orthopedic, and otorhinolaryngology wards. Records were evaluated for completeness of data, way of documentation, and data quality. Descriptive analysis was done. If malnutrition was not identified and/or proper action was not taken, it was defined as a "missed opportunity." Results. Of 154 records audited, 100 (64.94%) were males, 108 (70.13%) were from general surgery ward, and 78 (50.65%) were residing in suburban area. The mean (SD) age of the study population was 2.32 (1.16) years whereas mean (SD) duration of stay was 5.84 (6.29) days. Weight and height were mentioned in 116 (75.32%) and 8 (5.19%) records, respectively, mostly by nonsurgical personnel. Documentation and treatment of malnutrition were poor. Out of 106 apparently correct weight records, 19 (17.93%) children were severely undernourished and 30 (28.30%) were moderately undernourished whereas 20 (18.87%) children were not undernourished but required nutritional attention. Conclusion. There is poor documentation of nutritional indicators of children admitted to surgical wards. From data that was available, it is apparent that malnutrition is at high levels. "Identification" and hence management of malnutrition need more attention.