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An evaluation of enteral feeding practices in critically ill children

Lyvonne Tume1, Lynne Latten, Andy Darbyshire

  • 1PICU, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, UK. l.tume@ljmu.ac.uk

Nursing in Critical Care
|November 3, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Critically ill children often receive inadequate nutrition. Following feeding guidelines significantly improves calorie delivery in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), ensuring better nutritional intake for these vulnerable patients.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric critical care nutrition
  • Enteral feeding protocols
  • Clinical nutrition research

Background:

  • Establishing and maintaining enteral feeding in critically ill children presents significant challenges.
  • Inadequate nutritional intake is a common problem in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs).
  • There is a notable lack of research concerning enteral feeding practices for critically ill children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare actual calorie intake with estimated caloric requirements in pediatric intensive care patients.
  • To evaluate whether adherence to feeding guidelines improves nutritional delivery.
  • To assess the effectiveness of established feeding protocols in enhancing caloric intake.

Main Methods:

  • A prospective observational study was conducted over one month.
  • The study took place in a tertiary referral pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).
  • Data were collected on 47 children with diverse diagnoses.

Main Results:

  • Only 47% of children received enteral feeds within the target 6-hour post-admission window.
  • Over half (55%) of the children received less than 50% of their estimated calorie requirements.
  • Adherence to feeding guidelines resulted in a statistically significant increase (p = 0.004) in delivered calories relative to estimated needs.

Conclusions:

  • Many children in PICUs do not receive adequate nutrition.
  • The implementation of feeding guidelines significantly enhances calorie delivery in PICU patients.
  • PICUs are encouraged to develop evidence-based enteral feeding guidelines to improve patient outcomes.
Abstract

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