Purpose and Instructions for the Nestle Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) Tool 
                  
                 Purpose 
                 The MNA is a valid/reliable screening tool that helps to identify individuals age 65 and over who 
                 are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition.  Persons who are malnourished tend to have longer 
                 hospital stays, greater complications, and greater risk of morbidity and mortality1.  By 
                 identifying persons who are malnourished or at risk for malnourishment, interventions to 
                 correct nutrition can be implemented earlier to improve outcomes. 
                  
                 This six question tool, which requires no special training to use and that takes less than four 
                 minutes to complete, may be used in hospital, community, and long term care settings at 
                 regular intervals to detect malnutrition or risk of it, i.e. at admission, quarterly, and when the 
                 person’s condition changes. 
                  
                 Instructions 
                        Demographics:  Before beginning the nutritional assessment, enter the person’s name, 
                         gender, age, weight (kg), height (cm), and the date of the assessment 
                        Screening questions:  Pose questions to the person to elicit responses to the six 
                         screening questions.  Choose the number that corresponds with the most accurate 
                         person response, inserting that score into the box at the right side of the question.  For 
                         more information on each specific screening question, see “A Guide to Completing the 
                         Mini Nutritional Assessment – Short Form (MNA-SF)”, which can be found at 
                         http://www.nestlenutrition.com/en 
                        Total score:  Total the individual screening question scores to determine the person’s 
                         total screening score (max 14 points):  
                             o  A score of 12- 14 points = normal nutritional status 
                             o  8-11 points = at risk of malnutrition  
                             o  0 -7 points = malnourished 
                        Interventions:   Based on the person’s total score, review Nestlé’s algorithm entitled, 
                         ‘Recommendations for Intervention’, which can be found at the noted website above, 
                         and implement as indicated 
                  
                 NOTE:  Individual permission will need to be obtained by each organization wishing to use 
                 this tool. 
                 To meet copyright requirements, you must comply with the following directions:   
                               ®
                 1.  The MNA  content cannot be altered.   The questions and scoring system must be worded 
                                                                    ®
                     exactly as they appear in the original MNA .   
                 2.  The Nestlé Nutrition Institute logo must appear in the upper left part of the MNA® form as 
                     indicated on the attached sample form.   
                 3.  The form must include the following statement identifying the trademark owners:  ®Société 
                     des Produits Nestlé S.A., Vevey, Switzerland, Trademark Owners.  
                 4.  The form must include the following copyright statement: © Nestlé, 1994, Revision 2009. 
                     N67200 12/99 10M 
                 5.  The following references must be included:  
                                              South West Regional Wound Care Program 
                        Vellas B, Villars H, Abellan G, et al. Overview of the MNA® - Its History and Challenges. J 
                         Nutr Health Aging 2006;10:456-465. 
                        Rubenstein LZ, Harker JO, Salva A, Guigoz Y, Vellas B. Screening for Undernutrition in 
                         Geriatric Practice: Developing the Short-Form Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA-SF). J 
                         Geront 2001;56A: M366-377. 
                        Guigoz Y. The Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA®) Review of the Literature - What does 
                         it tell us? J Nutr Health Aging 2006; 10:466-487. 
                        Kaiser MJ, Bauer JM, Ramsch C, et al.  Validation of the Mini Nutritional Assessment 
                         Short-Form (MNA®-SF): A practical tool for identification of nutritional status.  J Nutr 
                         Health Aging 2009; 13:782-788. 
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                 References 
                     1.  Kagansky N, Berner Y, Koren-Morag N, et al.  Poor nutritional habits are predictors of 
                         poor outcomes in very old hospitalized patient.  Am J Clin Nutr.  2005;82:784-791. 
                 SWRWCP:  B.2.2_Purpose and Instructions for the MNA_ June_27_2011_Rev_Jan_2014                           2