Malnutrition risk screening is essential for the adequate identification and treatment of malnourished hospitalised patients. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the use of an electronic malnutrition screening tool on the knowledge, attitudes and perceived practices (KAP) of a pool of nurses, nurses’ aides and physicians. A controlled study using a pre-test–post-test design was carried out in two Austrian hospitals. The hospital that was assigned to the intervention group used the Graz malnutrition screening tool. The hospital that was assigned to the control group received no intervention. To collect data, a questionnaire was filled out by the study participants at baseline (T0) and 1 month after the implementation (T1) to assess KAP. All data were analysed using descriptive statistics, χ2 tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and Student’s t tests. A total of 269 nurses, nurses’ aides and physicians participated in the study and completed the questionnaires at T0, and 190 people at T1. The sum score for the KAP questionnaire changed significantly after the implementation of the malnutrition screening tool in the intervention group (P<0·001), but not in the control group. The use of a valid and reliable malnutrition screening tool effectively improved the KAP of healthcare staff. The KAP described here are essential for providing successful nutritional care in malnourished patients, and improving these factors may result in improved patient outcomes. To attain these outcomes, stakeholders, as well as members of all professions involved in multidisciplinary nutritional care, must invest significant efforts.

Background: This paper investigates the relationship between care staff perceptions' of self-harm behaviours presented by adult and adolescent inpatients and the emotional responses and helping behaviours of the staff. Method: Seventy-six nursing staff participated, including qualified and unqualified staff, who worked in either adolescent or adult secure inpatient settings within a single organization. Participants completed vignette, knowledge, and attitudes questionnaires, related to working with patients who display deliberate self-harm. Results: Further support was found for attributional theories suggesting that views on deliberate self-harm are linked to propensity to help, and that emotional responses can be a mediating factor. Staff who reported feeling more negative about patients who self-harm reported more worry about working with this patient group. Unqualified nursing staff reported more negativity and worry than qualified staff. Neither gender nor length of work experience was found to be significant factors. Conclusions: These findings indicate that training and support should be aimed at helping nursing staff, particularly unqualified staff working in inpatient settings where self-harm is frequent, feel more positive and less concerned about working with patients who self-harm. Such needs of unqualified nursing staff have not been highlighted in previous research.