Critically Ill Patients: A Case Study

In order for humans to overcome increased demand for nutrients in an ICU setting it is important that nutrition be available readily. “Nutritional support is essential for critically ill patients in the intensive care unit. It provides energy, protein and other nutrients for patients who cannot be fed orally. According to the author, “Consideration in determining the type and amount of nutritional support depend on the patients underlying medical conditions, nutritional status and available route of nutrient delivery.”(Kim, p. 2861) Thus, we need to analyze all aspects of the patient’s current condition and expected nutritional needs to arrive at an optimal balance of required nutrients to aid the healing process. “On average of 37-68% of patients are fed less than their nutritional requirements with enteral nutrition.” (Kim, p. 2861) This study is meant to scrutinize the way we are implementing enteral feedings in critically ill patients and develop a plan of action to address these deficiencies.

The criteria involved patients who were over the age of 18, hospitalized in the ICU, had a primary medical diagnosis, had a doctor’s order to begin enteral feedings, and were expected to require enteral feedings for at least four days. This study ended up enrolling 45 subjects but 11 patients were withdrawn due to changes in their route of feedings. To determine proper feedings patients were placed into three categories: adequate feeding (90-110% of energy requirements), underfeeding (110% of energy requirements). All information was obtained from medical records in order to assess the adequacy of the nutrition and subsequent impact on patient health. The most important parameter for this study was the time of initiation of enteral nutrition. This time frame was defined as the time the patient arrived to ICU to the start of the