Nutritional aspects of the orthopaedic trauma patient.

The metabolic response to trauma is related to a variety of factors, including severity of injury, age, and previous state of health and nutrition (Cardona et al., 1994). This article addresses nutritional considerations of an orthopaedic trauma patient. A case study has been developed with common findings associated with malnutrition, including postoperative infection. Three concepts are discussed: (a) pretrauma nutritional status, (b) post-trauma metabolism, and (c) nutritional assessment parameters. A brief comment on nursing diagnoses related to nutrition concludes this article.