New options for surgeons to improve malnutrition in the outpatient setting

Abstract

Malnutrition is a significant negative factor for surgical patients in the entire perioperative period. However, this factor can be controlled and is easy to detect in the outpatient setting. Starting from May 1, 2020, surgeons have the possibility to prescribe sipping under certain conditions for a limited period of 4 weeks. Thereby they have become able to strongly impact any altered nutritional status both preoperatively and postoperatively.
The authors describe scoring questionnaires used for the detection of malnutrition and required by health insurance companies. Additionally, prescribing conditions and potential mistakes in the outpatient setting are analysed.