Hydration - the missing part of nutritional care

Lecko, Caroline

Caroline Lecko is patient safety lead at NHS England; Carolyn Best is a nutrition nurse specialist at Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust.

•This article has been double-blind peer reviewed

Nursing Times 109(26):p 12-14, July 3, 2013.

Dehydration affects patients across all areas of care. All nurses need to be proactive in diagnosing and treating dehydration swiftly to prevent deterioration

In this article…

> The importance of good hydration and associated risks
> Analysis of incident reports relating to poor hydration
> Recommendations for future practice

Abstract

Lecko C, Best C (2013) Hydration - the missing part of nutritional care. Nursing Times; 109: 26, 12-14. Dehydration contributes to poor patient outcomes and can lead to avoidable harm. This article analyses incident reports from National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) relating to hydration and shows that this area of care continues to be frequently neglected. Reasons for this are suggested with recommendations for changing practice to reduce the negative impact this has on patient outcomes.