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.
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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.
