Review : nurses can improve patient nutrition in intensive care Ros, Caroline, McNeill, Liz and Bennett, Paul 2009, Review : nurses can improve patient nutrition in intensive care, Journal of clinical nursing, vol. 18, no. 17, pp. 2406-2415, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2008.02765.x. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Review : nurses can improve patient nutrition in intensive care Author(s) Ros, Caroline McNeill, Liz Bennett, Paul orcid.org/0000-0001-9174-3499 Journal name Journal of clinical nursing Volume number 18 Issue number 17 Start page 2406 End page 2415 Total pages 10 Publisher Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd Place of publication Oxford, England Publication date 2009-09 ISSN 0962-1067 1365-2702 Keyword(s) critical enteral intensive care nursing nutrition parenteral Summary Aims and objectives. To review the literature and identify opportunities for nutritional practice improvement in the critically ill and opportunities to improve nurses’ knowledge relating to enteral feeding. Background. The literature reports varying nutritional practices in intensive care. Design. Systematic review. Methods. A systematic search, selection, analysis and review of nursing, medical and dietetic primary research articles was undertaken. Fifteen studies met the selection criteria. Results. Delivery of nutrition to the critically ill varied widely. Patients were frequently underfed and less frequently, overfed. Both under- and overfeeding have been linked with unacceptable consequences including infections, extended weaning from mechanical ventilation, increased length of stay and increased mortality. Underfeeding was related to slow initiation and advancement of nutrition support and avoidable feed interruptions. The most common reasons for interrupting feeds were gastrointestinal intolerance and fasting for procedures. Certain nursing practices contributed to underfeeding such as the management of gastric residual volumes. Conclusions. Consistent and reliable nutrition support in intensive care units is hampered by a lack of evidence leading to varying nutrition practices. Factors impeding delivery of enteral nutrition were considered avoidable. A new concept of a therapeutic range of energy delivery in the critically ill has emerged implying the need for re-evaluation of energy recommendations and improved delivery of enteral nutrition. Relevance to clinical practice. This review supports the multi-disciplinary development and implementation of an evidence-based enteral feeding protocol in intensive care units as a strategy to improve adequacy of nutritional intake. Critical care nurses are well placed to improve this process. Language eng DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2008.02765.x Field of Research 110312 Nephrology and Urology Socio Economic Objective 920199 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) not elsewhere classified HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2009, The Authors Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30033149 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Health School of Nursing and Midwifery Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Thu, 03 Mar 2011, 07:17:20 EST Mon, 14 Mar 2011, 09:29:47 EST Mon, 14 Mar 2011, 09:31:07 EST Mon, 16 Jun 2014, 17:29:30 EST Thu, 11 Dec 2014, 16:56:46 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 20 times in TR Web of Science Cited 24 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 821 Abstract Views, 1 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Thu, 03 Mar 2011, 07:17:20 EST