BEST TOOL: The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) is an assessment tool that can be used to identify older adults (>65 years) who
are at risk of malnutrition. It is a clinician-completed instrument with two components: screening and assessment. A score of 11 or
less on the screen indicates a problem and the need for a completion of the assessment portion. The assessment score is then added to
the screen score; if the total score on both parts totals 17 – 23.5, there is a risk of malnutrition, while a score of < 17 indicates existing
malnutrition. The MNA should be supplemented with information regarding the patient’s cultural factors, preferences, social
needs/desires surrounding meals. A review of symptoms and objective clinical findings, including pertinent physiological measures
used to assess nutritional status should be assessed (including serum pre-albumin, serum albumin, transferrin, and total lymphocyte
count, as well as hemoglobin and hematocrit). A 72-hour food dairy, recording the patent’s consumption, is another important
supplement to the MNA.