Starving for attention: Malnutrition screening in a community cancer center.

96 Background: It is estimated that 50% of cancer patients are at risk for malnutrition, causing physical and emotional distress that interferes with cancer treatment. Early detection and intervention may prevent severe malnutrition. Assessment and management of malnutrition are included in National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines but no specific recommendation regarding screening tool selection is provided. The Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) is a short, easily administered screening tool, validated for identification of malnutrition in cancer patients. In this study, we describe the results of MST administration in a large community cancer institute. Methods: The MST was administered during all patient visits to our cancer institute in 2015. Patients scoring 2 or higher were identified as ‘at risk’ for malnutrition, resulting in electronic dietitian referral prompts. We retrospectively reviewed MST results from April through June 2015 and compared to dietitian referrals during the same ...