Rani Fedoruk is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator specializing in chronic disease management in primary care and hospital outpatient settings. She has observed first-hand the impact malnutrition has on the quality of life of community-dwelling older adults and believes that the inclusion of the patient perspective to inform health care initiatives is vital. In working towards the completion of her Master of Science in Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science, Rani was intimately engaged in the COMmunity-Based Screening for Nutrition RISK in Older Albertans (COMRISK) study and continues to be involved in the project on a volunteer basis.
Early identification of nutrition risk is prerequisite to reducing healthcare costs and increasing independence and quality of life for community-dwelling older adults (CDOA) by potentially preventing or detecting malnutrition. Primary care settings afford frequent opportunities to screen for nutrition risk and provide resources and supports when risk is identified. This presentation will review the findings from the first phase of the COMmunity-based screening for nutrition RISK in older Albertans (COMRISK) study. The primary objective of this part of the feasibility study was to explore the acceptability of nutrition risk screening from the perspective of CDOA. The secondary objective was to briefly describe the nutrition risk of CDOA living in central Alberta. The health system perspective (i.e., the second part of the COMRISK study) will be discussed at the Addressing nutrition risk in the community: Making it a reality presentation on May 7th during the CNS-SCN Annual Conference 2022.