Nutrition-focused Physical Findings as Part of the Nutrition Assessment

A nutrition assessment is encompassing of all the data from the client or patient or setting that is available. The areas of data collection include, but are not limited to, the client history, their food history, anthropometric measurements, and available biochemical data as well as medical test and procedure data. After review of this information nutritional risk may be flagged that would lead a health care professional to further examination of the patient for nutrition-focused physical findings and possibly more in-depth subjective information.

The health care professional is looking for both signs (objective, physical findings, lesions seen that have/often have nutritional underpinnings) and symptoms (subjective, relayed by the client) of nutritional concern. Skills are needed in all areas of data collection and this one is no exception. Skills in this area include training the eye for actual nutrient-based lesions (signs that indicate a possible nutritional deficeincy) and abnormalities that may affect nutritional status.

As in all learned skills aimed at detection, we must first know what we are looking for. Free downloads are available to community members who log on as a member of this web site. Go to your My Downloads area of the Member Menu and print yours off after you have logged on as Member. One of those downloads lists Key Terms necessary to "learn the language" of acquiring this skill. Another download lists common Clinical Signs and Symptoms of Nutritional Deficiencies. Both will be a great help to you in acquiring the skills necessary to identify nutrition-focused physical findings as part of the nutrition assessment process.