Medical Nutrition Therapy Essay

3456 Words7 Pages

Medical nutrition therapy and the critically ill
Abstract
Nutritional support was an often neglected but essential and crucial element in management of critically ill. The medical nutrition therapy is fast replacing the concept of supportive nutrition in critically ill patients. Adequate and proper nutrition therapy has the potential to positively impact patient outcomes and length of hospital stay. It is relatively inexpensive compared to other treatments, and is being increasingly identified as a marker of quality ICU care.

Key words: Enteral nutrition, parenteral nutrition, critically ill
Introduction
Nutritional support is recognized to be as an essential and crucial element in management of critically ill [1]. The importance of nutrition and its availability in intensive care unit is now improving with understanding of the pathophysiology of …show more content…

Modes of enteral nutrition

1. Nasogastric (NG): The most common route used in intensive care. Here a feeding tube in inserted into the stomach through the nostrils. Complications include malposition, nasal tissue erosion, sinusitis and is contraindicated in the patients with fracture of base of skull.
2. Orogastric: This route is used when NG is contraindicated, and to prevent sinusitis. It is tolerated well by the sedated patients but not in awake patients.
3. Nasojejunal (NJ) or Post pyloric: The feeding tube is placed in jejunum by passing the stomach. This prevents the risk of aspiration.
4. Enterostomy: Includes gastrostomy or jejunostomy- here feeding tube is inserted directly into stomach or jejunum either endoscopically or surgically and brought out through the peritoneal cavity. Complications include displacement or infection. It is often preferred in patients requiring nutritional support for more than a month.

Indication for enteral nutrition
If the patient has an inadequate or no oral intake of food for 1 - 3 days, then nutritional support by the enteral route is required.
The types of enteral

Show More
Related

  • Anne Morell Case Study

    1947 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) was completed on Anne. The MNA is a tool used to provide a rapid assessment of elderly patients’ nutritional status. The MNA is made up of simple measurements and a few brief questions that can be completed by the patient in no more than ten minutes. The nutritional status of a patient is evaluated using a two-step process to accurately determine a patient’s nutritional status (McGee

    Read More

  • The Causes of Gallbladder Attacks

    950 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...h a type of surgery called Cholecystectomy. The Non-Surgical approaches are used only in specific situations such as when a patient’s condition prevents using an anesthetic. In such cases, Oral dissolution therapy is used.

    Read More

  • Preventing and Assessing Intensive Care Unit Delirium

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...s, physicians, and family members on the importance of prevention, detection, and treatment of ICU delirium. When successful, the ICU staff can promote a healthy environment to support physical and physiological well-being.

    Read More

  • Huntington's Disease Study

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    diets. When the last one-third of the period in the hospital was analyzed it was found

    Read More

  • Hrm/531 Week 1

    1539 Words  | 4 Pages

    As mentioned previously we can do without food for weeks but without oxygen, we will die within a few minutes this is why nutrient imbalance is given second priotiy.Our bodies need a balanced nutritious diet to produce, substitute and repair cells and tissues; produce energy to stay warm and movement; carry out chemical processes such as the digestion of food and protect against infection and recover from sickness. (Fao, n.d.)Without balanced nutrition we won’t have the necessary energy to perform our ADLs. If we look at Mr Cooper he has a background of reflux and hypercholesterolemia. Mr Cooper has a high risk of nutrition imbalance due to inadequate nutrients due to constant vomiting up of foods, indigestion, and feeling of fullness in the upper abdomen all of which leads to loss of appetite thus loss of essential nutrients. (Nanda nursing care plan, 2012) Hypoxia also has an anorexic effect and is a key catabolic stimulus. (Mason, Parker and Lott,

    Read More

  • Nutritionism Essay

    1615 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nutritionism is an ideology that believes that the nutrients in foods are the key to understanding them. Nutritionism believers are so focused on the nutrients that food contains that they forget about all other aspects of food. The problem is that consumers rely on packaging to tell them what nutrients a food provides, since nutrients cannot be obviously seen, and they rely on science to tell us what nutrients are good and which are “evil”.

    Read More

  • Nutrition in the Intubated Patient

    1349 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ridley, E. J., Dietet, B. N., & Davies, A. R. (2011). Practicalities of nutrition support in the intensive care unit: the usefulness of gastric residual volume and prokinetic agents with enteral nutrition. Nutrition, 27(5), 509-512. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2010.10.010

    Read More

  • Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool

    2042 Words  | 5 Pages

    MUST is a five-step screening tool designed for healthcare professionals to identify adult patients who at risk of, or are malnourished. It includes guidelines on how to develop an effective treatment plan. The Malnutrition Advisory Group (MAG) in 2000 adapted and extended their community screening tool to include care homes and hospitals, in response to national concerns. (Department of Health, 2001). In 2003 MUST was designed by MAG and the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN). It was piloted across many care settings, to target patients who may be at risk of malnutrition.

    Read More

  • Teamwork And Collaboration In Nursing

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dietitian meeting the needs if the patients’ needs as ordered from a nutritional point of view.

    Read More

  • Failure To Thrive

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    Failure to thrive (FTT) in children and infants, results from inadequate nutrition to maintain the growth and development. In many cases, FTT is either the result of possible medical issues that the mother or child may be experiencing. It However, in the extreme form, it could become fatal and many times this is the result of a caregiver or parent. In the paper, we will look at the causes, interventions and the impact that FTT may have on families (Shelov and Altmann, 2009, p.614).

    Read More

  • Anorexia

    1220 Words  | 3 Pages

    Death was very near to a girl named Patti, who suffered through anorexia for more than two years. She ate nothing but two cream-filled cookies a day for more than seven weeks. The first cookie was breakfast and lunch, and the second was for her main meal. When she decided that these two cookies had too much fat in them, she proceeded to scrape off the cream filling from both of the cookies to decrease her fat intake. But still that was too much fat, so she cut down to one cookie without the filling. She now gets fed intravenously in her arm to get nourishment in the hospital. She is being fed against her will to save her life. But of course not all cases of this disorder are quite as severe or dramatic as this, yet all cases should be helped, because they can take a...

    Read More

  • Case Study Of Palliative Care

    1261 Words  | 3 Pages

    The patient may no longer be able to orally take in food, and the artificial means of feeding may worsen the patient’s quality of life. The concept of food cessation is often difficult for the patient’s friends and family to understand and accept, especially because food is essential to life, and eating is a sociocultural experience. Family must be reminded that to feed the patient may do more harm than good. However, until the time that oral intake stops, nurses must be providing other ways to increase the patient’s nutrient intake. The performance of symptom assessments and the development of plans of care should begin at the time of diagnosis and continue throughout the remainder of the patient’s life. These assessments and plans of care are both critical to preventing the onset of early malnutrition and to maintaining the patient’s quality of

    Read More

  • Starve for Perfection, the Cost of Anorexia Nervosa

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sidiropoulos, Michael. "Anorexia Nervosa: The physiological consequences of starvation and the need for primary prevention efforts." McGill Journal of Medicine 10.1 (2007): 20-25. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. .

    Read More

  • Force Feeding Anorexic Patients: Is This Practice Doing More Harm Than Good?

    1388 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of my high school best friends was diagnosed with anorexia my junior year of high school. Her condition was not severe, but still very serious because it led her to attempt to kill herself. After coming back to school from being in a mental health institution, she had gained weight from being forced to eat and was more than ever determined to lose the weight that she had gained. Clearly, being forced to eat made her condition worse. Patients with anorexia nervosa who are alarmingly thin, around 15% or so below their expected body weight, are sometimes force fed, more often than not through a tube inserted through their nose. This has raised many questions about if the practice ethical, safe, and the right thing to do. Over the course of the semester, I will explore and examine the issues with forced feeding and argue that forced feeding actually does more harm and the decision should be left up to the patient, their family or a court appointed guardian with the power to make healthcare decisions. As a social work major and someone who has seen what can happen as a result of force feeding anorexic patients, I have a strong interest in this issue because as a social work major, I have a particular interest in working with mental illness patients and this issue not only affects patients suffering from anorexia, but the medical and mental health professionals trying to help them. This topic is important because there are high stakes for the patients and they need effective treatment to recover and be healthy.

    Read More

  • Euthanasia and Living Wills

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    feeding tube.  In essence you are dead.  Your body is no longer able to sustain

    Read More

More about Medical Nutrition Therapy Essay

Open Document