Providing nutritional support for patients in critical care
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Providing nutritional support for patients in critical care

Lorraine Mutrie Lecturer, Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Barry Hill Senior lecturer, Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Why you should read this article:
  • » To assist you to provide appropriate nutritional support for patients who are critically ill

  • » To enhance your understanding of the pathophysiology of nutrition

  • » To enable you to undertake effective nutritional screening and assessment of patients who are critically ill

  • » To optimise the routes of administration and timing of nutritional interventions used in practice

The provision of nutritional support for patients who are critically ill is complex and multifaceted, in part because of the variety and complexity of potential clinical presentations. This article explores the importance of providing nutritional support for patients who are critically ill and explains the pathophysiology of nutrition in altered health states. It discusses nutritional screening and assessment, the various routes of nutrition administration and the nursing considerations involved in providing nutritional support in critical care.

Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2018.e10804

Citation

Mutrie L, Hill B (2018) Providing nutritional support for patients in critical care. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2018.e10804

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

Lorraine.m.mutrie@northumbria.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Published online: 21 May 2018

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