The Joint Commission, a nonprofit organization that sets health-care standards and
accredits health-care facilities that meet those standards, specifies that nutrition screening be
conducted within 24 hours after admission to a hospital or other health-care facility—even
on weekends and holidays. The Joint Commission allows facilities to determine screening
criteria and how risk is defined. For instance, a hospital may use serum creatinine level as a
screening criterion, with a level greater than 2.5 mg/dL defined as “high risk” because the
majority of their patients are elderly and the prevalence of chronic renal problems is high.
The Joint Commission also leaves the decision of who performs the screening up to individual
facilities. Because the standard applies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, staff nurses are
often responsible for completing the screen as part of the admission process. Clients who
“pass” the initial screen are rescreened after a specified amount of time to determine if their status has changed.