Nurse assessment of nutritional status to identify patients at risk for complications after pancreatic resection

Purpose/Objectives: To determine if serum prealbumin (PAB) levels can be used by nurses to predict patients who may be at higher risk for postoperative complications after pancreatic surgeries. Design: A quantitative, retrospective study. Setting: One cancer center at an urban medical center in Detroit, Michigan. Sample: A convenience sample of 41 patients with resectable pancreatic neoplasms. Methods: Descriptive study with cross-sectional data using chart review to obtain preoperative PAB levels and perioperative data. Main Research Variables: Pancreatic leak, chyle leak, gastroparesis, sepsis, heart attack, length of hospital stay, and readmissions. Findings: There was a higher incidence of pancreatic leak reported after a distal pancreatectomy; however, this complication was not associated with a low PAB of ≤20 mg/dl. Patients with a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma or who underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy experienced a longer hospital stay. Conclusions: Results did not reinforce the relationship between preoperative nutritional status and outcomes in pancreatic surgery. Implications for Nursing: Surgical oncology nurses should be aware of the importance of presurgical risk assessment and optimization. Tailored implementation of nutritional prehabilitation to improve patient outcomes after resection of pancreatic neoplasms should be studied more comprehensively