[A nurse-led multidisciplinary malnutrition program to assess and treat patients with malnutrition or those at risk of malnutrition]. / Multidisziplinäres Malnutritionsprogramm zur Erfassung und Behandlung von Patienten mit dem Risiko oder bestehender Mangelernährung in pflegerischer Verantwortung.

Malnutrition is a world-wide problem that does not only affect developing countries. People in industrialised countries, in particular the elderly, the poor and the sick, are at risk. In Switzerland, it is estimated that between 15 and 20% of patients (depending on patient population) show signs of malnutrition upon hospital admission. In response and based on a systematic review of the literature, a working group of the internal medicine department at the University Hospital Basel has developed a malnutrition programme comprising a screening instrument, a multidisciplinary care guideline, an information brochure, and a training programme for nursing staff. It is the aim of this article to report how the programme to recognise and treat malnutrition was developed, implemented, and evaluated.

[Reading nursing Literature in English: new inputs for practicing nurses]. / Fachenglisch für Pflegende: Aus der Praxis für die Praxis.

A prerequisite to providing evidence-based care is the ability to comprehend the nursing research literature, most of which is published in English. To facilitate this understanding, a course on "reading the research literature for evidence-based practice in English" was developed by an interdisciplinary team for staff nurses at the University Hospital Basel. The pilot course was offered to nurses who specialized in cancer care. It was led by the oncology Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) from the Department of Medicine. Research articles focusing on the management of chronic illness and cancer pain management were assigned and read. The course consisted of ten 90 minute lessons. The evaluation was designed to address the following questions: 1. Did participation in the course improve the oncology related knowledge of the nurses? 2. Did participation in the course improve the nurses' English language skills? 3. At what level of difficulty did the nurse participants perceive the course to be? 4. Were course participants able to use their newly acquired knowledge to teach their nursing colleagues on the ward? The course evaluation demonstrated that the 15 participants significantly improved their oncology knowledge through this process but that their English skills did not improve. The participants were able to present lectures on their wards based on the course literature, which were positively evaluated by their colleagues and the APN course leader. The participants perceived the course as being sophisticated but also effective at demonstrating the use of English-language research literature for one's own nursing practice.