MUST or Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool is a five-step screening tool to identify adults, who are malnourished, at risk of malnutrition (undernutrition) or obese. It also includes management guidelines which can be used to develop a care plan. It is for use in hospitals, community and other care settings and can be used by all care workers.
The 5 MUST steps:
Measure height and weight to get a BMI score using chart provided. If unable to obtain height and weight, use the alternative procedures shown in the guide within www.bapen.org.uk.
Note percentage unplanned weight loss and score using tables provided.
Establish acute disease effect and score.
Add scores from steps 1, 2 and 3 together to obtain overall risk of malnutrition.
Use management guidelines and/or local policy to develop care plan.
📌Note: Our MUST format is based on the one of BAPEN.