Att förebygga malnutrition : Sjuksköterskors erfarenheter i hemsjukvården i en kommun

Background: Good nutritional wellbeing is crucial for good health. Malnutrition is a risk factor to the elderly, which may contribute to a lowered quality of life. Home care nurses play a prominent role in the preventative work. Purpose: To describe registered nurses’ experiences of working in a preventative manner in order to avoid malnutrition in home care patients in one community. Method: A qualitative design with an inductive approach was used. Ten interviews were conducted in total, after which the findings were analysed using content analysis. Result: The analysis gave rise to three categories: actions to be able to work preventative, personal an organisational obstacles and what the nurse need for improvements. It was evident that nurses usually discovered malnutrition through weight checks and treat it through energy enrichment of the patient’s diet. Preventative care may be obstructed by the patient’s participation in making decisions, as well as various organisational matters. Conclusion: The conclusion was there is room for improvement in the preventative care. While ambition is present among the nurses, the absence of a clear work description was perceived as hindrance to perform preventative actions.