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Nutritional support in intensive care units in England and Wales: a survey.

OBJECTIVE
To assess current practice in nutritional support in intensive care units (ICUs) in England and Wales.


DESIGN
A three-section questionnaire about feeding practice was sent to all adult ICUs in England and Wales; this requested information on nutritional support provided for all patients during a single designated 24-h study period.


RESULTS
66% of the questionnaires were completed and returned. 43% of patients received nutritional support. Of these, 46% received only parenteral nutrition, 34% only enteral nutrition, 4% received sip feeds and the remaining 16% received more than one form of feeding. 81% of patients fed by the nasogastric route had a large-bore tube in place. More than 40% of patients were fed parenterally via the central route, of these 54% had a dedicated feeding line.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the complications of central venous feeding and the advantages of and developments in enteral feeding these findings suggest there could be further improvement in our provision of nutrition for the critically ill patient.