ABSTRACT
Screening and assessing the nutritional status of a critically ill patient should involve a systematic approach to help implement appropriate interventions. Malnutrition remains a signicant problem in the hospital setting despite the evidence describing both the clinical and economical consequences. Malnutrition increases the risk of adverse complications for the critically ill patient. In 2009, an International Consensus Guideline Committee developed an etiology-based approach for the diagnosis of adult malnutrition in the clinical setting, which was endorsed by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) and the European Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ESPEN). The committee proposed the following diagnosis [1]:
1. Starvation-related malnutrition 2. Chronic disease-related malnutrition 3. Acute disease-related or injury-related malnutrition
Nutrition care involves screening, assessment, and intervention in patients with malnutrition [2].
