TITLE:
Prescription and Delivery of Enteral Nutrition for ICU Patients: A Case Study of a Hospital in the Interior of Brazil
AUTHORS:
Valtemir Paula de Oliveira Junior, Daiane Costa dos Santos, Sibele Santos Fernandes, Mariana Buranelo Egea
KEYWORDS:
Caloric-Protein Diet, Enteral Formula, Nutritional Needs, Daily Intake, Patients Ill
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.14 No.10,
October
23,
2023
ABSTRACT: Background: The objective of the present study was to evaluate
during one year the total delivery of volume, calories, and proteins and
compare them with the total prescribed to ICU patients using ENT (Enteral
Nutrition Therapy) exclusively. Methods: Data on the prescribed or
infused volume, calories, and protein, as well as their respective needs for
each individual, were collected. Anthropometric
parameters and age data were also collected from the medical records of 41
patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Results: Prescribed versus
infused enteral diet volume was presented in 5 weeks which corresponds to the maximum
duration of ICU treatment. Regarding sampling, the majority corresponded to elderly people (>64 years old) and
males (63.4%). The total average
prescribed was 719.2 mL of enteral diet on an average of 649.7 mL delivered. In
addition, there was no significant difference between the prescribed and
delivered volume, caloric value, and protein content of the diet only in the
last week of hospitalization, which corresponded to the range of 29 - 36 days. Several factors make
it difficult to reach the patient’s caloric and protein recommendations. Most
of the reasons are not recorded, corresponding to 57.1%, indicating the
difficulty of assessing the inadequacy of the prescribed and delivered volume. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first time that a prescription vs. delivery assessment has been
carried out for patients in the Brazilian Midwest. In addition, although
our research is a difficulty reported worldwide (in most hospitals), we also
provide opportunities for how the problem was solved in our case, which may
contribute to other cases.