Serum albumin levels: relationship to length of hospital stay.

Current literature supports the conclusion that the malnourished patient is more often anergic, more vulnerable to infection, and has a higher incidence of postoperative and hospital-related complications that may result in an increased length of hospital stay. It is the responsibility of the nutritional support pharmacist or clinical pharmacist to monitor laboratory values and suggest appropriate nutritional interventions when those values indicate a deterioration in nutritional status. Serum albumin is considered an indicator of visceral protein and nutritional status, if not in the individual patient then in a defined patient population. When monitoring hospitalized patients, the clinical pharmacist should consider albumin a valid indicator of visceral status in that patient population. This study of 152 surgical and medical patients demonstrates to the clinical pharmacist the simple relationship between mean serum albumin levels and length of stay in a defined patient population. Early intervention with nutritional support should be studied as a method of reducing length of stay.