The Knowledge of Malnutrition-Geriatric (KoM-G) 2.0 Questionnaire for Health Care Institutions: Cross-Cultural Adaptation into German, Czech, Dutch and Turkish.

It is necessary for nursing staff to have adequate knowledge of malnutrition in older people in order to provide high quality care. This study was conducted to update the Knowledge of Malnutrition-Geriatric (KoM-G) questionnaire to fit different settings and to cross-culturally adapt it to the German, Czech, Dutch and Turkish languages. In Part 1 of the study, the KoM-G questionnaire was updated and adapted for use in different settings. Content validation of the KoM-G 2.0 was carried out in a Delphi study with 16 experts. The final KoM-G 2.0 questionnaire consists of 16 items with a Scale Content Validity Index/Average of 94.5%. In Part 2, the English KoM-G 2.0 was cross-culturally adapted into the German, Czech, Dutch and Turkish languages. In the pilot test, between 96.9% (The Netherlands) and 97.8% (Austria) of the nursing staff rated the items as understandable. The KoM-G 2.0 is an up-to-date questionnaire with a highly satisfactory Content Validity Index. It was cross-culturally adapted into the German, Czech, Dutch, and Turkish languages, and the understandability was high. At the moment, the necessary comprehensive psychometric testing of the KoM-G 2.0 is in process. Afterwards it can be used to compare nurses' knowledge between various countries and settings.

Evaluation of Malnutrition Knowledge among Nursing Staff in the Czech Republic: A Cross-Sectional Psychometric Study.

Construct: The Knowledge of Malnutrition - Geriatric 2.0' (KoM-G 2.0) instrument was designed to quantify nursing staff malnutrition knowledge in inpatient medical and rehabilitation care facilities, as well as home health care. It has been used to assess grasp of current clinical practice guidelines and proficiency in addressing issues related to malnutrition. It provides insight into familiarity with and capacity to tackle issues pertaining to malnutrition in clinical practice. Furthermore, it has been used assess the effectiveness of educational interventions aimed at improving nursing professionals knowledge and awareness of malnutrition. Background: The quality of nursing education affects malnutrition risk assessment, monitoring of food intake, and effectiveness of nutrition care. Improvements in malnutrition education require determining the current level of knowledge and benchmarking with other countries. In the Czech Republic, no nationwide assessment of nursing staff malnutrition knowledge has ever been conducted. Approach: The purpose of the study was to translate the KoM-G 2.0 instrument, gather initial validity evidence, and evaluate nursing staff knowledge of malnutrition in inpatient medical, rehabilitation care facilities, and home care in the Czech Republic. All inpatient healthcare facilities and home healthcare facilities in the Czech Republic were invited to participate. The Czech version of the internationally standardized KoM-G 2.0 (KoM-G 2.0 CZ) was used to assess nursing staff malnutrition knowledge between 3 February 2021 and 31 May 2021. A total of 728 nurses began the questionnaire, and 465 (63.9%) of respondents completed it and were included in the study. Data analyses examined instrument difficulty, discriminability, and reliability, as well as sources of variation in knowledge scores. Findings: The psychometric characteristics of the KoM-G 2.0 CZ instrument included the difficulty index Q (0.61), the discriminant index (ULI 0.29, RIT 0.38, upper-lower 30% 0.67), and Cronbach alpha (0.619). The overall mean of correct answers was 6.24 (SD 2.8). There was a significant impact of educational attainment and nutrition training on KoM-G 2.0 CZ scores. Conclusions: Our findings provide initial validity evidence that KoM-G 2.0 CZ is useful and appropriate for assessing malnutrition knowledge among Czech nursing staff. Our research identified gaps in knowledge and examples of good practice in understanding malnutrition that can be applied internationally. The knowledge of academic nurses was greater; therefore, we suggest they play a key role in nutritional care. We recommend continuous education to improve understanding of malnutrition in this setting.

Malnutrition knowledge among nursing staff in four European countries: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Nursing staff must have sufficient knowledge in order to adequately prevent and treat malnutrition. However, only a marginal amount of information on this topic is available in the literature. OBJECTIVES: This paper provides a comparison of the malnutrition knowledge among nursing staff in Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Turkey and presents factors associated with the malnutrition knowledge of nursing staff. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was performed. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Nursing staff from different care settings in Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Turkey participated in the study. METHODS: The KoM-G 2.0 (Knowledge of Malnutrition - Geriatric) questionnaire was used for data collection. RESULTS: In total, 2056 participants from different care settings took part in the study. Between 11.7 % (Turkey) and 32.5 % (Austria) of the participants had high levels of malnutrition knowledge. The country itself was the factor most strongly associated with malnutrition knowledge. The nurses' educational level and specialised training of nursing staff were also significantly (p < 0.001) associated with malnutrition knowledge. Questions about "factors that should be considered during older persons' food intake" were most frequently answered correctly, while questions about "different aspects of nutritional screening" were less often answered correctly in all four countries. CONCLUSIONS: This study was one of the first to describe the rather low level of malnutrition knowledge among nursing staff in different countries. The country itself was identified as the factor most strongly associated with the nurses' knowledge of malnutrition, while the nursing staff's basic education as well as further training were also detected as significant factors. These results indicate that it is necessary to extend and improve (academic) nursing education and to offer specialised training programmes which may improve nutritional care across country borders over the long run.

Risk of malnutrition assessment in hospitalised adults: A scoping review of existing instruments.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to find tools for screening the risk of malnutrition in adult hospitalised patients, evaluate their key characteristics including selected psychometric properties and propose the most appropriate tools for nursing practice. BACKGROUND: A large number of existing tools for nutritional screening make it difficult to be aware of all the possibilities and especially to select the optimal tool. DESIGN: The research methodology was designed as secondary research using a scoping review search to map and compare existing tools for assessing the risk of malnutrition in hospitalised adults. METHODS: The analysis focused on the selected psychometric properties of the instruments (sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value) and key characteristics relevant to the selection of an appropriate instrument. This study follows the PRISMA-ScR Checklist. RESULTS: The review included 27 publications containing 17 tools. The best sensitivity (57%-100%) and specificity (76%-96%) were achieved by the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002). Minimal Eating Observation and Nutrition Form-Version II (MEONF-II) has solid sensitivity (up to 73%), specificity (88%) and high positive predictive values (81%-82%). CONCLUSIONS: The MUST, NRS 2002 and MEONF-II showed satisfactory psychometric properties. MEONF-II and MUST are able to assess risk without weighing the patient. The Hand Grip Strength (HGS) assessment can be recommended to detect reductions in muscle strength. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: We recommend the MUST, NRS 2002 and MEONF-II tools for use in clinical practice, as they have the best psychometric properties and are user-friendly. The HGS, which proved to be related to the length of hospital stay (LOS) and used as an indicator of protein-energy malnutrition in obese patients, may be a useful complementary tool. For nursing practice, we recommend selecting a tool with respect to the specifics of a particular workplace.

Effectiveness of Neonatal Hearing Screening System: A 12-Year Single Centre Study in the Czech Republic.

PURPOSE: The study aims to evaluate the number of examined newborns and the results of screening for twelve years (2008-2019) and to assess the effectiveness of the established system of neonatal hearing screening. DESIGN AND METHODS: The study was designed as a retrospective longitudinal data analysis. The data included all the children (19,043) born in the hospital and also children (74) transferred from other healthcare facilities. A total of 19,117 children were included in the research group. RESULTS: In the first three years, a higher number of children did not pass the hearing screening, which was followed by a declining trend in the following years. After the first year of screening (2008), there was an improvement in diagnosis linked with a decrease in false-positive screening results (from 9.4% to 6.4%; p = 0.002). From 2008 to 2015, the ratio of children with positive screening to those with negative screening had a steady or declining trend. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed a reduction in false-positive results after the first year of the screening program, probably due to improved care management and a gradual increase in the skills of the nurses performing the screening. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The cornerstones of neonatal hearing screening are a sufficient number of trained neonatology nurses, their mutual substitutability and the availability of a hearing screening device in the newborn ward every day. The results imply the importance of periodic evaluation of the obtained data, enabling early detection of possible deficiencies in the hearing screening system.

Dysphagia and factors associated with malnutrition risk: A 5-year multicentre study.

AIMS: To describe the associations between dysphagia and malnutrition risk and to identify predictors for dysphagia in a group of persons at risk of malnutrition in hospitals and nursing homes. DESIGN: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from the years 2012-2016. METHODS: The risk of malnutrition was assessed using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool for Adults (MUST). The data were compared regarding malnutrition risk and dysphagia. Regression analyses were conducted to identify variables that were associated with the risk of malnutrition and dysphagia. RESULTS: Patients (N = 17,580) were included in the study sample. The prevalence of dysphagia was 6.6% and the prevalence of malnutrition risk was 18.9%. A multivariable logistic regression analysis resulted in the identification of dysphagia and cancer as variables with the highest odds ratios with regard to malnutrition risk. Patients with cancer, stroke or respiratory diseases represent a high-risk group for the co-occurrence of dysphagia and risk of malnutrition. CONCLUSIONS: Screening for dysphagia should be carried out on patients at risk of malnutrition as an integral part of their admission to a healthcare institution and especially on the higher risk group of patients with cancer, a stroke or a respiratory disease. IMPACT: What problem did the study address? This study identified the relationship between dysphagia and malnutrition risk and associated factors. What were the main findings? Dysphagia among patients in the research sample was associated with more than two times higher prevalence of the malnutrition risk. Where and on whom will the research have an impact? Thorough malnutrition risk and dysphagia screening lead to better nursing care.