Knowledge, attitudes and practices in the provision of nutritional care.

The nutritional care of patients is one of the primary responsibilities of all registered nurses (Persenius et al, 2008). A poor nutritional status can lead to malnutrition, which can have serious consequences for an individual's quality of life (Field and Smith, 2008). This paper commences with an introduction to the concept of nutrition, provides an overview of nutritional guidelines and nutritional screening tools which identify those at risk of malnutrition. It reviews the literature on nurses' knowledge, attitudes and practices in the provision of nutritional care and debates challenges and opportunities encountered to help nurses ensure adequate patient nutrition.