Malnutrition can develop quickly in hospital, so it is important that food intake and body weight monitoring occurs for all patients.
Food Intake Monitoring:
Models of Food Intake Monitoring
Models of food intake monitoring based on the examples from the More-2-Eat sites.
My Meal Intake Tool - colour or black & white
This form is for patients or family members to complete. It is to assist health care professionals in learning how well the patient is eating.
My Meal Intake Tool: Guidance Document
This form explains how the patient or family member is to complete the My Meal Intake Tool.
Visual Estimation of Food Intake Form
Tired of “calorie counts” because they are not completed accurately and no one has time to analyze the results? Try using this quick form to estimate the percentage of food and fluid intake that a patient consumes at meals and snacks. The Canadian Malnutrition Task Force reported that eating less than 50% of the food and fluids provided is an independent risk factor for malnutrition. This quick, simple tool can provide valuable results.
Food Monitoring Tools Presentation
This PowerPoint presentation explains how and when to use the My Meal Intake Tool (M-MIT) and the Mealtime Audit Tool (MAT)
Documenting Food Intake:
Patient Meal Intake Record
This form is placed on the door of a patients’ room and is completed for every meal. When the form is full, it is placed in the chart. The staff info sheet for this document is available here.
Whiteboard
This whiteboard is from an Accountable Care Unit that has incorporated food intake monitoring into their design. At this site, the food service worker delivering the tray moves the magnet to the correct percentage. A nurse can also document intake.
Training Material/Posters:
Examples of posters used to train staff to accurately monitoring food intake. These posters can be placed on the unit or in a patient’s room.
Example 2 (Note: For this example, the food is the percent of the total for the meal).
Example 3 (Note: For this example, the food is the percent of the total for the meal).
Weight Monitoring:
Weight Monitoring Training
This PowerPoint can be used to demonstrate the importance of taking regular and accurate weights.
Tracking Weights
This is a template that can be used for recording regular weights before adding into the chart.
Reminder about Weights
This poster template can be used as a reminder to zero the beds for hospitals with bed scales.
Equipment:
This site can provide you with the necessary equipment for obtaining anthropometric measurements. Equipment used in the Nutrition Care in Canadian Hospitals study included: digital chair scale, knee-height caliper, portable stadiometre, dynamometer and measuring tape. http://www.weighandmeasure.com/
Acknowledgment: The ideas and resources included on this page are provided in part by the hospitals involved in the More-2-Eat project.
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CONTACT info@nutritioncareincanada.ca
Contact info@nutritioncareincanada.ca if you would like to join the Community of Practice.
© 2023 Canadian Malnutrition Task Force