Benchmark and monitor the nutritional care in your healthcare institution with nutritionDay!
Join the nutritionDay worldwide audit on
12 Nov 2026
to enhance quality of care through systematic monitoring and benchmarking. This one-day snapshot allows you to track nutritional risks and compare your results against a worldwide reference
About nutritionDay
What is nutritionDay?
nutritionDay is a global initiative that aims to improve nutritional care in healthcare settings and raise awareness of disease-related malnutrition. Each year in November, nutritionDay is conducted as a 1-day, cross-sectional audit (nDay) and has become one of the largest international databases of hospitalized patients and nursing homes residents.
Data collection at nDay
On a single, specified day (nDay), hospital wards, ICUs, primary care units, and nursing homes around the world collect anonymized data and upload them to the nutritionDay database using a simple, standardized, and multilingual data collection system.Data collection is performed by means of standardized questionnaires. Unit staff provide information on unit structure and organization, patients’ medical history, diagnoses, treatments, and outcomes. Patients complete a short questionnaire covering nutritional habits, food intake, recent weight loss, mobility, self perceived health status.
Benchmark with nutritionDay your nutrition care
Participating units receive a free, multidata graphical and numerical report that compares their results with a worldwide reference in the same specialty. These reports support benchmarking, quality monitoring, and continuous improvement of nutritional care for patients
Why participate in nDay?
- Benchmark and monitor nutritional care in your institution
- Identify patients’ nutrition risk profiles
- Receive a free unit report with international comparison
- Support quality improvement and international research
- Raise awareness of disease-related malnutrition
What data are collected?
Food intake before and on nutritionDay
Patient risk factors for malnutrition (e.g. recent weight loss, Reduced food intake, mobility…) and outcomes
Nutrition care quality indicators
Center/Unit structure and organization (resources and processes) Outcomes (30 days after nutritionDay for Hospitals; 60 days for ICUs;180 days for Nursing Homes and Primary Care).
All collected data are anonymized, ensuring privacy and ethical compliance.
Participation
Participation is voluntary and free of charge. nutritionDay takes place on a single day each year, making it a practical and effective tool for both monitoring care and advance research
Who can participate to nutritionDay?
All hospital units, nursing homes and primary care centers worldwide are invited to join nutritionDay!
Individual patients have to be part of an institution to join the nutritionDay audit.
Find out details of participation for each nDay category below:
nDay categories
Hospital
Unit-Based : Any inpatient ward (Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, Gastroenterology, etc.) providing overnight care can join nutritionDay in hospital
Coordination: Led by a Unit/hospital Coordinator
(Doctor, Nurse, Dietitian, nutrition team, hospital managers).
Inclusion: All patients present on the ward on nutritionDay
who are 7 years or older.Exclusion: Day-clinic patients (not staying overnight) and patients under age 7.
If your ward treats cancer or surgical patients, nDay provides specific questionnaires to capture the unique nutritional profiles of these groups (onco sheets and surgical sheet in addition to the hospital questionnares).
ICU
Unit-Based: Any Intensive Care Unit or Intermediate Care Unit can join nutritionDay in ICU
Coordination: Led by a Unit/hospital Coordinator
(Doctor, Nurse, Dietitian, nutrition team, hospital managers)
Inclusion Criteria: All patients currently admitted to the ICU on the audit day.
Nursing Homes
Unit-Based: Residential care homes, assisted living facilities
Coordination: Led by a Unit/nursing homes Coordinator
(Doctor, Dietitian, Caregivers, facility managers, and nursing staff.)
Inclusion Criteria: All residents living in the facility on the audit day.
Primary care
Doctor-Based: General practitioners (GPs), community health centers, and private clinics. Family doctors and medical assistants.
Coordination: Led by a primary care center Coordinator
(Doctor, Dietitian, Caregivers, facility managers, and nursing staff.)
Inclusion Criteria: Patients ( ≥18 years) visiting the doctor for a consultation on the designated audit day.