Ensure Nutrition Education Network Helps Fight Malnutrition
Malnutrition is a growing, global health problem. In Europe and the Middle
East, 10 to 78 percent of hospital patients, particularly the elderly, suffer
from the condition. The effects of malnutrition include disease complications,
weakened immune function, increased morbidity and mortality, decreased quality
of life, and increased cost of health care
To help raise awareness about malnutrition and the benefits of nutritional
intervention with oral nutritional supplements, Abbott Nutrition International
(ANI) has launched the Ensure Nutrition Education Network. Physicians and
dietitians from more than 10 countries in Europe and the Middle East were
invited to be part of the network at its recent inaugural meeting in Athens,
Greece.
As part of the network, health care professionals are called upon to be
ambassadors for optimal nutrition care by establishing “gold standard”
nutrition care programs in their institutions. Establishing a program to
require nutrition screening and assessment for all patients is the first step
toward identifying malnutrition and beginning an optimal nutrition care
program.
To help reduce malnutrition, ANI introduced a clinically proven program
called Nutrition MedPass, an innovative nutrition intervention to identify and
treat the malnourished or those at risk through oral nutritional supplements
given during medication. To encourage compliance in oral nutritional supplement
consumption, Nutrition MedPass recommends providing patients smaller doses of
the supplement several times a day with their medications. The network
participants provided positive feedback on the program, developed a plan for
implementation of the program within their facility, and committed to keeping
in touch with one another and exchanging best practices on nutrition screening,
assessment, intervention, monitoring and documentation.
For more information about malnutrition:
The Ensure Nutrition Education Network logo combines elements critical to
the concept and goals of the group. The slightly abstract depiction of people
around a table implies individuals joining together to engage in a dialogue and
exchange knowledge. The linking of the people who make up the circle refers to
a human connection and flow of information between individuals, while the
circular shape and coloring of people in varying shades of blue and green imply
a global network. The focal point of the logo is the apple – a commonly
recognized symbol of good health and nutrition.
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