'Food for thought': The importance of nutrition to patient care and the role of the junior doctor

Abstract

Good nutrition is an integral component of patient care. Not only does eating correctly provide substantial physical benefits, it also ensures psychological comfort throughout admission. Nevertheless, our formative years as medical students, and now as junior doctors, have shown us that patient nutrition is frequently neglected both in the clinical setting and in the subject matter of our education.Amid the coronavirus pandemic, this is especially problematic; older, frailer patients, with multiple comorbidities and higher rates of malnutrition, are faring much worse with the virus. Combined with the fact that 40% of patients admitted to hospital are malnourished to some degree, we are looking at a huge population of potential COVID-19 patients facing a further decline in nutritional status and higher mortality as a result of this, making attention to nutrition more important than ever.As junior doctors, we have a role in the nutritional assessment of and support for our patients by ensuring that all patients are suitably assessed using a scoring tool with the appropriate ensuing actions taken. We must also ensure that our knowledge regarding nutritional assessment and support is adequate and aim to supplement this via additional learning to meet the minimum requirements for our curriculum.

Keywords: COVID-19; MUST score; junior doctors; malnutrition; nutrition assessment.