What is the level of nutrition care provided to older adults attending emergency departments? A scoping review protocol.

Introduction: Nutrition status among older adults is an important factor in health and clinical outcomes but malnutrition goes unrecognised in routine health care.  Older adults often present to emergency departments (ED) and are subsequently discharged without hospital admission.  Discharge is a transitionary time of care when nutritional vulnerability could be mitigated with the instigation of targeted nutrition care pathways. This protocol outlines a scoping review to identify the level of nutrition care provided to older adults attending emergency departments. Methods: This scoping review will be conducted using the framework proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) will be used to guide the reporting. Two researchers will search electronic databases (Medline, CINAHL Complete, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Scopus), grey literature sources (DART-Europe E-theses portal, Open Grey, and Trip Medical database) and website searches (Google, Google Scholar, Pubmed, NICE and LENUS) to identify appropriate data for inclusion within the last 10 years. Key information will be categorised and classified to generate a table charting the level of nutrition and dietetic care initiated for older adults in the ED according to the Nutrition Care Process Model. A narrative synthesis will be conducted. Conclusions: This scoping review will be used to inform a foundational concept of nutrition care in an ED setting and allow the future examination of nutrition care pathways, practice, policy, and research within models of integrated care for older persons.