Evidence-based Nutritional Support in the Intensive Care Unit

Yi, Young-Hee; Oui, Mi-Sook

Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing 2010;3(1):79-88.
Published online June 30, 2010.

중환자를 위한 근거중심 영양지원

이영희, 위미숙

¹성균관대학교 임상간호대학원
²삼성서울병원 중환자간호팀

Evidence-based Nutritional Support in the Intensive Care Unit

Young-Hee Yi, Mi-Sook Oui

¹Graduate School or Clinical Nursing Science, Sungkyunkwan University
²Critical Care Nursing, Samsung Medical Center

Abstract

Optimal nutrition serves to maintain normal organ function and to preserve body energy stores to guarantee survival during times of shortage of food. Adequate nutrition of intensive care unit (ICU) patients improves outcome, while malnutrition is strongly associated with increased morbidity and mortality rates among critically ill patients. Previously published researches showed that trials of nutritional support in critical illness rarely fulfill basic quality requirements. Nutrition support plays a vital role in the prevention and treatment of nutritional deficiencies in at-risk, critically ill patients. This paper reviewed the challenges in determining critically ill patients' nutrition requirements including nutrition assessment, determination of caloric requirements then providing them with adequate nutrition support while in the ICU with the guidelines published by Society of Critical Care Medicine and American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Nutrition support can be effectively enhanced by using the guidelines.

Key Words: Critically ill patient, ICU, Nutritional support