ABSTRACT
@#Introduction: Hepatic diseases patients are especially prone to malnutrition, which is often underestimated. Screening tools were developed to detect the risk of malnutrition. However, screening tools for patients with liver disease were frequently underestimated. Fluid overload is the main issue to perform nutritional screening in liver disease patients. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the Royal Free Hospital Nutritional Prioritizing Tool (RFH-NPT) among patients and to evaluate association between RFH-NPT, Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS 2002) and Subjective Global Assessment (SGA). Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in 3 phases; transcultural adaptation, criterion validity and reliability phases. Content validity was confirmed by interviewing eight liver disease professionals. Face validity was assessed by surveying forty nurses working in the liver disease ward. In addition, agreement between NRS 2002 and RFH-NPT assessment was assessed using the SGA tool. Results: Eighty patients with liver disease took part in this study. The SGA assessment found malnutrition in 75% of patients (95% CI, 60%–95%) while 80% (95% CI, 65%-80) were found as at risk of malnutrition using RFH- NPT. Moderate specificity and high sensitivity of RFHNPT were 97% and 74%, respectively, and 95% positive predictive value was measured. Conclusion: The RFH-NPT nutritional screening tool is the initial and most reliable in this population to assess the malnutrition risk. Thus, inclusion of the RFH-NPT with NRS 2002 demonstrated positive and a fair agreement between the SGA and RFH-NPT tool to be used as a routine nutrition screening protocol for identifying patients at risk of malnutrition.
ABSTRACT
This study aims to evaluate the status of Korean healthcare among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries and to monitor the trend of health care status since 2000. The position value for relative comparison (PARC) index was selected to gauge the level of healthcare status in demand, supply, accessibility, quality, and cost as per healthcare policy aspects. The Mann-Kendall test was conducted to allocate healthcare status of Korea since 2000. The PARC values indicate strength and weakness of Korean healthcare system by the mathematical comparisons. Korea positioned higher in demand, supply, accessibility, and quality. Yet, there are shortages in human resources and primary care. In conclusion, we suggest utilizing this study provides evidence to prioritize health care problems that can lead to establishing healthcare policy.