[Prescription and preparation of parenteral nutrition at Spanish hospitals]

To identify habits related to prescription and preparation of parenteral nutrition in Spain and their adequacy to current recommendations.

A questionnaire was administered in order to collect information about the characteristics of diets used at each hospital and the way they were prepared. The questionnaire was available through the web page of the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacy.

Forty five hospitals answered the questionnaire. More than 90% of the hospitals reported that they used diets with a fixed or standard composition and 66.6% reported that they bought diets available in the market with a defined composition. Fifty seven point five per cent of the hospitals always prepared "all in one" parenteral nutrition and 37.5% prepared them only for adults. A 5% provided the lipids separately, both for adults and for children. Forty five per cent of the hospitals reported that they did not use organophosphates as source of phosphate. Almost 60% alternate the introduction of vitamins and trace elements. Differences were also found regarding the type of lipids provided and the use of filters. Most hospitals used multi-layer bags and photoprotection.

There is quite a lot of diversity in the patterns of prescription and preparation of parenteral nutrition in our country. Further consensus documents should be written about these topics.