Nutritional intervention in pressure ulcer guidelines: An inventory

Nutritional data from the literature and the high prevalence of malnutrition in patients at risk of pressure ulcers (PUs) or with established PU mandate structural nutritional actions in these patients. Guidelines can help to improve nutritional alertness in professionals and promote structural nutritional assessment and nutritional intervention in PU-prone or PU patients. PU guidelines from 13 countries were compared with regard to nutritional management of PU patients. The attention paid to nutritional prevention and treatment in PU patients varied considerably across guidelines. Recommendations with regard to nutritional intervention should be incorporated transparently into PU guidelines and should be complete, specific, testable, and cover the entire nutritional cycle.